Prasar Bharati delays the launch of its OTT platform

Prasar Bharti could not keep its deadline of September 15 to launch its OTT platform. It is now pushed for early October. The launch had already been postponed from the initial plan of August 15.

All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) and DTH operators have been against Prasar Bharati’s launch of this platform from the very beginning. They contend that it will disrupt uplinking and downlinking guidelines and traditional TV distribution.

The public broadcaster has received applications from 106 channels, of which 44 were selected, and 40 agreed to join the platform. Four leading channels have opted to stay away and not stream their channels on the broadcaster’s OTT platform.

Prasar Bharati had proposed a 65:35 revenue share for TV channels, with 65 percent going to the channel and the public broadcaster retaining the rest. Successful channels would provide a clean feed for streaming on the OTT platform. The public broadcaster would insert ads on the OTT stream based on the availability of the SCTE-35 marker at the appropriate juncture. Unsold commercial time would be used to run promos for Prasar Bharati and its partner channels.
BCS Bureau