DTH
Dish TV moves TDSAT over MTV refusal to join its DTH platform
MUMBAI: In what appears to be a test case for the broadcast regulator’s diktat on providing content to all platforms on a nondiscriminatory basis, Dish TV has moved the disputes tribunal seeking legal redressal against, what it says, is MTV’s unwillingness to come on to its DTH platform.
The case has been filed at the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) by Dish TV, 20 per cent owned by Zee Telefilms, and would be heard on 4 April, 2005.
Contacted by Indiantelevision.com, a senior executive of Zee Telefilms confirmed that Dish TV has sought guidance from TDSAT on the issue of MTV, which, has reportedly refused to give its over content citing commercial reasons.
The appeal may set a precedent on the controversial must-provide clause of the interconnect regulation, outlined for the broadcast sector by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
When MTV India was asked by Indiantelevision.com to respond to the TDSAT case, a spokesperson, through an e-mail, said, “We are in the processes of ascertaining the facts and would not like to comment on the matter as of now.”
TDSAT is the only authority that can hear matters of dispute pertaining to TRAI directives and, in recent times, has been deluged with cases relating to the complex broadcast and cable sector.
Though Dish TV has moved the disputes tribunal, company insiders also pointed out that this case amounts to `testing the waters’ before a full-fledged campaign could be launched. Earlier, the country’s first DTH operator had sent letters to Star India and Sony Entertainment TV India, copies of which were mailed to Trai too, asking the two leading broadcasters to join the Dish TV platform.
As of now, pay broadcasters such as Star, Sony and Ten Sports do not offer their content to the DTH platform of Dish TV.
According to information available, the response to these letters has been tepid from all sides, including the sector regulator that is still grappling with its internal apprehensions and a not-so-hot relationship that it shares with the information and broadcasting ministry.
The must-provide clause, penned by the regulator with an aim to bring about a level playing field in the cut-throat broadcast industry and give the consumer more choice, has thrown up more questions than it has answered.
It is still not clear whether certain contentions could be made on the back of the must-provide clause of the interconnect regulation as Trai had said, at one point of time, that it would get effective when a second DTH operator enters the arena.
Though pubcaster Doordarshan operates a DTH service, its presence is unlikely to have an effect on the clause as the service is free of subscription money, which has led pay channels to keep away from it.
DTH
Prasar Bharati’s WAVES earns Rs 2.9 crore in first year
Platform scales content, users but monetisation gaps limit revenue growth.
MUMBAI: Big waves, small ripples at least for now. When Prasar Bharati launched its OTT platform WAVES at the 55th International Film Festival of India in November 2024, it pitched a bold vision: a homegrown rival to global and domestic streaming giants, blending video, audio, gaming and commerce into a single digital ecosystem. Five months into FY2024–25, however, the platform’s revenue stands at just Rs 2.90 crore, a figure that underscores the gap between ambition and monetisation.
On paper, WAVES looks anything but modest. The platform has ingested 13,608 titles, totalling 9,495 hours of content, with over 13,000 titles already live. It has streamed more than 575 live events from the Mahakumbh Amrit Snan and the 76th Republic Day parade to the Hockey India League, Kabaddi World Cup and Mann Ki Baat while offering 74 live TV channels and 12 radio channels. With over 10 lakh registered users and more than 200 content partners onboarded, the scale resembles that of a fully operational streaming service rather than a pilot project.
The architecture supporting this scale is equally robust. Built under Prasar Bharati’s Central Archives vertical, WAVES runs on a cloud-based infrastructure with DRM, encryption and an integrated analytics dashboard. It includes dedicated units for content ingestion, quality control, publishing, graphics, marketing and billing, and is distributed across platforms such as OTTplay, Tata Play and BSNL. The offering extends beyond video to include audio-on-demand, e-games and even e-commerce via ONDC integration.
Yet, the numbers reveal a core disconnect. Despite its scale, WAVES generated just Rs 2.90 crore in a market where India’s OTT industry crossed Rs 23,000 crore in 2024. A key bottleneck lies in monetisation infrastructure: subscriptions cannot currently be purchased within the app and must be completed via an external website. In a mobile-first country where over 95 per cent of OTT consumption happens on smartphones, this extra step creates friction that most users are unlikely to overcome.
Ironically, content is not the problem, it is the platform’s biggest strength. Prasar Bharati holds one of the world’s richest broadcast archives, including 45,154 hours of digitised Akashvani programming and 35,723 hours from Doordarshan. For WAVES alone, over 3,800 hours of archival content have been made OTT-ready, including classics such as Ramayan and Shaktimaan, alongside rare cultural recordings and historical broadcasts.
There are early signs that this library holds commercial potential. Revenue from archival content licensing rose sharply to Rs 3.38 crore in FY24, up from Rs 67 lakh the previous year. Meanwhile, free digital platforms continue to drive massive reach, the PB Archives Youtube channel clocked 119.78 million views and added 4,02,000 subscribers in FY2024–25, crossing 1.7 million in total, while DD News has over 5.84 million subscribers.
That, however, presents a strategic dilemma. While free distribution builds scale, it also conditions audiences to expect content at zero cost making it harder to transition to paid models. WAVES, designed as a hybrid AVOD-SVOD platform with advertising and subscription layers, is yet to fully crack this balance.
The broader challenge is not technological but strategic. In an ecosystem dominated by platforms offering seamless payments, aggressive pricing and high-budget originals, WAVES is still bridging the gap between being a content repository and a commercially viable product.
For now, the platform reflects both promise and paradox. It has the scale, the content and the infrastructure but until monetisation catches up, WAVES remains less a revenue engine and more a digital showcase of what India’s public broadcaster could become.
