DTH
Tata Play Binge adds BBC Player to its streaming menu, bringing British classics to Indian screens
MUMBAI: Tata Play Binge has inked a fresh deal with BBC Player, injecting its content library with a world of British brilliance. Subscribers are now in for a treat with a treasure trove of critically acclaimed BBC titles—Luther, Doctor Who, Top Gear, Planet Earth III, and more—joining the platform’s extensive streaming lineup.
The partnership aims to offer a mix of iconic dramas, sharp-witted comedies, genre-defining documentaries, and engaging family-friendly content—all under one roof. From the legendary Mr. Bean to the culinary magic of Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver, there’s something for everyone. Even the kids can dive into animated favourites like Andy’s Aquatic Adventures and Junior Bake Off.
Tata Play chief commercial and content officer Pallavi Puri said, “This partnership underscores our commitment to bringing the best of global content to our viewers, all in one place. BBC Studio’s premium storytelling and rich library of highly celebrated shows perfectly complement our growing content roster, and we are confident that our users will love this addition.”
BBC Studios vice-president distribution Stanley Fernandes added, “, “We’re excited to bring BBC Player to more homes across India with Tata Play Binge, offering the best of British entertainment—from acclaimed dramas to inspiring lifestyle shows and kids’ favourites—all in one place. This marks a new chapter in our partnership with Tata Play as we expand into their OTT aggregation space, building on our strong collaboration.”
BBC Player joins a star-studded lineup of over 30 streaming apps already available on Tata Play Binge, including Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, SonyLIV, and Zee5, making it a one-stop shop for diverse content. With this latest addition, Tata Play Binge continues its mission to be the ultimate hub for premium streaming.
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.
