DTH
Videocon d2h expands HD offering to 39, adds two new channels
MUMBAI: Videocon d2h has upped its HD channel offering to 39 with the addition of two new channels namely Viacom 18’s Colors Infinity and Fox Group’s Nat Geo Wild HD.
Additionally, the DTH operator has also added Colors Infinity (SD) to its portfolio of channels.
Colors Infinity airs critically-acclaimed series such as Fargo, Orange Is The New Black, Better Call Saul, Forever, The Big C, The Musketeers, My Kitchen Rules and The Flash for the first time in India.
On the other hand, Nat Geo Wild HD will feature wildlife related programs and factual content involving nature, science, culture, and history.
Colors Infinity will be available as channel 183, Colors Infinity HD as channel 184, whereas Nat Geo Wild HD will be available as channel 462 on Videocon d2h.
Subscribers can access Colors Infinity standard definition channel as a part of Diamond Pack available at Rs 385 per month for 407 channels & services. Colors Infinity HD & Nat GeoWild HD will be part of Videocon d2h’s Premium HD add-on and Platinum HD pack available at Rs 590 per month for 452 channels & services.
“We believe that our ability to provide a substantial lineup of top entertainment choices in English, infotainment and HD is the key in serving the needs of India’s premium consumers. And the more such stellar options we provide, the more Videocon d2h will emerge as India’s definitive DTH choice,” said Videocon d2h executive chairman Saurabh Dhoot.
Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera added, “By adding new English entertainment channels like Colors Infinity and infotainment channel Nat Geo Wild HD, Videocon d2h is creating a television viewing experience our subscribers can’t get anywhere else. Our aim is to ensure that every Indian home is able to experience top quality entertainment that rivals the world’s most established television markets.”
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.
