DTH
Silver Eagle to invest in Videocon d2h for at least one third stake
BENGALURU: Silver Eagle Acquisition Corp (Silver Eagle), founded by former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) chairman and chief executive Harry Sloan and veteran television executive Jeff Sagansky, has announced that it will invest between $ 300 million to $375 million in Videocon d2h for a stake of between 33.5 per cent to 38.6 per cent. Sloan and Sagansky are expected to join the Videocon d2h board when the deal closes. Silver Eagle hopes to take Videocon d2h public in the US.
In exchange for cash, Silver Eagle will receive new equity shares of Videocon d2h initially valued at no less than $303.7 million representing no less than 33.5 per cent of the equity capital of Videocon d2h. The shares issued by Videocon will be represented by American Depositary Shares (ADSs) which will be distributed directly to Silver Eagle’s stockholders.
The actual amount of cash to be contributed by Silver Eagle and the number of Videocon d2h shares represented by ADSs to be issued by Videocon d2h will depend, in large part, on the number of public shares which its stockholders elect to redeem in connection with the transaction.
The current shareholders of Videocon d2h, who are all members of the Videocon Group, will also be entitled to be issued additional equity shares of Videocon d2h following the closing representing, in aggregate, 3.88 per cent of the post-closing issued share capital of Videocon d2h, subject to the achievement of certain trading price targets over a three year period after closing.
The investment proceeds will be used for reducing debt and expanding operations in India that will undergo the third and fourth phases of cable television digitisation in India, offering large growth opportunities say industry sources.
Sloan said, “We created Silver Eagle for the purpose of finding a fast-growing media opportunity which is taking full advantage of the digital revolution. With almost 10 million digital subscribers, this well-managed company has passed the inflection point to become a leader in India’s explosive television growth.”
Sagansky said, “Videocon’s DTH business is in what we believe to be the fastest growing segment of the media industry in India in part because of the government’s ongoing mandatory digitisation plan in addition to millions of Indian homes subscribing to pay TV for the first time. Together there is an expected 33 million new Pay-TV subscribers over the next four years and we are pleased to become part of Videocon d2h’s dynamic growth story.”
Videocon Group chairman Venugopal Dhoot said, “Our DTH service already offers the highest number of channels in each of our packages and we were the first company to launch HD channels in India. We anticipate that the transaction with Silver Eagle will not only give us additional capital to continue development of our services, but also unparalleled expertise and experience. We look forward to working closely with Harry and Jeff on expanding our market share and services.”
Videocon d2h started in 2009 is a member of the global conglomerate Videocon Group, which owns interests in consumer electronics, oil and gas, power, retail and insurance, among others. Videocon d2h has grown to a subscriber base of 1.18 crore or a market share of about 16.5 per cent of India’s direct-to-home market as of last September. It distributes more than 500 digital television channels.
The deal, when it goes through, will put the valuation of Videocon d2h at around $ 1 billion plus ($ 100 crore).
Other acquisitions by Sloan and Sagansky include the in-flight entertainment companies Row 44 and Advanced Inflight Alliance AG through Golden Acquisition Corp.
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.
