DTH
DishTV selects Wyplay to provide middleware and VAS to STBs
MUMBAI DishTV has selected creator of software solutions for pay-TV operators Wyplay, to provide its Frog Turnkey Middleware and associated class leading value added services on its STBs.
The DishTV concept has created some excitement amongst the operator community which is struggling for freedom from the monopolistic construct of the pay-TV space. Future solutions’ will be built from top partners’ products while keeping in mind the idea of flexibility, openness and the possibility to evolve without constraints and any E2E lock.
Speaking on the occasion, DishTV COO VK Gupta said: “Being the pioneer and market leader, DishTV has selected Wyplay as our future middleware partner. Wyplay will enable DishTV in delivering class leading value added services on both one-way and connected STB’s with its expertise, innovative technologies and a holistic approach to customer engagement that is fully in line with DishTV’s’ driving purpose to provide ‘Service with a Passion’. This is an ultimate move made towards ensuring customer engagement and satisfaction.”
Recognized as a global leader in innovative software solutions for TV operators, Wyplay brings its expertise and know-how to the table, in particular through the integration of its browser-based middleware on new generation set-top boxes, the customization of its HTML5 user interface, execution excellence to deliver an easy-to-use and smooth user experience, and improved overall performance in terms of flexibility, fluidity, speed, and responsiveness.
Wyplay CEO Jacques Bourgninaud, said: “We are thrilled to partner with DishTV, Asia’s largest DTH company, in delivering a brand new customer experience to its subscribers.” He added: “After several months of assessment and preparation, we are now confident that all conditions needed for a successful international expansion of Frog Turnkey solution are in place, especially in terms of collaboration with STB manufacturers supporting our solution. We are now in the home stretch before the deployment of our offering, and excited about prospective for development in this new unique market.”
Beyond European and Latin America markets, Wyplay confirms its strategy of expansion with its Frog Turnkey solution. Launched last September, Frog Turnkey solution incorporates all features required for traditional linear broadcast TV consumption, on-demand contents, applications distributed over the Internet, backend components and a modern user experience. Frog Turnkey aims to bring an attractive digital TV experience to subscribers with an affordable business model and fast deployment model for operators.
With Frog Turnkey solution, Dish TV’s customers will have access to a complete end-to-end offering from back-end broadcast services to an advanced client managing Live TV, Record, Push VOD and Interactive Applications.
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.
