I&B Ministry hints at launching Prasar Bharati OTT at IFFI festival

The much-awaited OTT platform by the public broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, is likely to be launched towards the end of November.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) Secretary Sanjay Jaju has shared the platform will be launched at the upcoming International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which is to take place from November 20 to 28 in Panaji, Goa.

The 55th edition of IFFI will pay homage to the legacy of Raj Kapoor, Tapan Sinha, Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR), and Mohammed Rafi through a series of tributes, screenings, and interactive events, providing the delegates a closer look at the contributions of these legendary film personalities to the world of cinema.

Addressing the press about the festival, the Secretary also revealed plans for the launch of the OTT platform at the festival, which is designed to provide independent filmmakers a space to showcase and monetise their content.

“…OTT doesn’t mean we will only show series, but we will bring other archival content. We are hopeful that our subscription will increase, accordingly the popularity will rise, so we’ll have a tool to take our content globally,” he said.

“The content creator will have the Intellectual Property, and we will try the revenue-sharing model. It is not just normal content being available on it, there will be live channels running on it, we are creating a marketplace, and we will show archival content of the country.

We’ve about 2,000 titles in our archives and we will bring that out,” Jaju added.

The launch, which was first announced in 2023, was earlier scheduled for September 15, which then got pushed to October 3 amidst the growing concerns from select broadcasters and streaming platforms.

Prasar Bharati’s move into the OTT space not only is poised to stir up competition for the other OTT players but is also distressing linear TV channels in the market. For top broadcasters, it is the conflict of interests as they already run their own subscription-based or ad-based OTT platforms. Additionally, some seek holistic regulatory review because of the pubcaster’s ability to integrate its OTT with traditional TV offerings, potentially leading to market distortions.

In its letter to the MIB, dated September 2, All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) has in fact urged the Ministry to withdraw Prasar Bharati’s notice inviting TV broadcasters for its soon-to-be-launched OTT platform, as it believes the same disrupts uplinking and downlinking guidelines, and also disrupts the traditional TV distribution.

DTH operators too, reportedly are planning to write a similar letter to the information and broadcasting ministry on the placement of linear TV channels on Prasar Bharati’s OTT platform.