DTH
DishTV launches customised packs in Karnataka, AP & Telangana
MUMBAI: In a bid to acquire subscribers in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana during Phase III areas of Digital Addressable System (DAS), direct to home (DTH) operator DishTV has launched a new package called Khushi, which offers customers the power to create their own pack.
The new includes 45 South Indian channels, five Kannada channels and 11 Telugu channels.
For the customers moving to DishTV, the company offers various options by providing them a choice of custom-made 17 entertainment add-on packs ranging from Rs 25 – 75 per month and regional add-ons starting from Rs 10 per month.
Subscribers can avail best of Kannada entertainment at as low as Rs 139 per month and wholesome Kannada entertainment at Rs 169 per month. Further to appease the need for sports enthusiasts, the sports add on with best of Kannada entertainment is available at Rs 189 per month.
For accessing Telugu entertainment, customers will have to pay Rs 139 per month. Popular kids add on with complete Telugu entertainment is priced at Rs 164 per month and the sports add on with complete Telugu entertainment will be available at Rs 189 per month.
DishTV CEO Arun Kapoor said, “Over the years we have observed the trend of the viewer preferences prevailing in the Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets. They have an inclination for regional content. Keeping this in mind DishTV has always been at the forefront to provide innovative solutions to enhance the TV viewing experience for our subscribers in regional markets.”
He further added, “Now, with the extension of deadline for the phase III of TV digitisation in India, we aim to capitalise the huge captive user base, which would be switching from analogue cable to digital platform. Khushi offers its subscribers the ‘Power to create your own pack’ and ensure that they enjoy seamless services with uninterrupted entertainment at cost effective rates.”
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.
