Prasar Bharati launched its Over-The-Top (OTT) platform, Waves, at the 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa. The launch event was attended by the Goa Chief Minister and dignitaries, including the Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. "Doordarshan, India’s iconic public broadcaster, has ventured into the OTT platform space to cater to the growing demand for digital streaming services," the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting announced on Wednesday.
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Waves OTT Platform
According to the Ministry, Waves aims to combine India's cultural legacy with modern streaming, offering a mix of classic shows like Ramayan, Mahabharat, Shaktimaan, and Hum Log, along with contemporary programming. Available in over 12 languages, it provides a diverse range of content, including news, documentaries, infotainment, live TV streaming, and free-to-play gaming.
"As national broadcaster it is our duty to make clean family entertainment reach all sections of society, "said Navneet Kumar Sehgal, Chairman, Prasar Bharati while addressing a press conference on Waves OTT and its offerings at 55th edition of IFFI here in Goa. A clear need was felt for having an OTT platform of Prasar Bharati which led to the launch of Waves. "Besides news, games, current affairs programmes must also be catered to the citizens," he added. Sehgal also mentioned that the platform will showcase India's rich cultural heritage and history. There is no charge for downloading Waves OTT and viewing contents, except for a few premier contents.
Content Across 12+ Languages
Waves enters the market as a large aggregator OTT platform that embraces Indian culture with an international outlook, offering stories in languages including Hindi, English, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Punjabi, and Assamese, the Ministry added.
The platform spans over 10 genres of infotainment and offers video-on-demand, free-to-play gaming, radio streaming, live TV streaming, 65 live channels, several in-app integrations for video and gaming content, and online shopping through an Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)-supported e-commerce platform, the Ministry said in a statement.
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Inclusive India Stories and Collaborations
Waves also provides its platform for content creators, including National Creator Awardees, and has opened its portal to student graduation films from film and media colleges like FTII, Annapurna, and AAFT. As part of its presence at IFFI, Waves is showcasing films such as Roll No. 52, Fauji 2.0, and Jackson Halt.
Government Partnerships to Bring Content
Central Government Ministries and state governments are collaborating with Prasar Bharati to co-develop and contribute varied content, including docudramas, dramatized or fictionalized shows, and reality shows with entertainment value, as effective vehicles for meaningful messages.
Some content includes a documentary on the 75th anniversary of the Supreme Court of India, the NFDC archives titled Cinemas of India, and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry's rare archival content like historical photos, journals and publications.
The Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Finance, IGNCA, Ministry of Culture, and India Post have also contributed informative and entertaining programming to Waves, the official release said.
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Additional features include live events such as Prabhu Shriram Lalla Aarti from Ayodhya, a cybersecurity awareness campaign with CDAC, and sports events like the upcoming US Premier League Cricket Tournament.
