Prasar Bharati launches new OTT platform, ‘Waves’, at IFFI

‘Prasar Bharati’, the national public broadcaster launched ‘Waves’, its OTT platform at the 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa. ‘Waves’ makes its entry as a wide-reaching aggregator OTT, with inclusive Indian stories embracing Indian culture with an international outlook, in more than 12 languages including Hindi, English, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Punjabi and Assamese, spread across 10+ genres of infotainment; video on demand, free-to-play gaming, radio streaming, live TV streaming, 65 live channels, several apps in app integrations (Lionsgate PTC and to name a few) for video and gaming content (‘Mud Games’, ‘Tag Labs’, ‘Freak x Games’ and ‘Game Tech Point’), educational content (like ‘PACE’ bringing test prep tutorials for students) and online shopping through CSC-SPV’s ONDC supported e-commerce platform.

The Chairman of Prasad Bharati’, Navneet Kumar Sehgal said, “‘Waves’ is one of the only OTT networks which is your window to not only the world of clean family entertainment but also to shopping, games and news and current affairs for kids and youth.” ‘Under its notified Content Acquisition Policy 2024’ for acquiring content for ‘Waves OTT’, ‘Prasar Bharati’ has curated a strong content lineup to satisfy diverse tastes of subscribers in all age groups across urban, metros, middle India and NRI audiences who seek Indian/regional/international viewing experience.

Gaurav Dwivedi, ‘CEO of Prasar Bharati’ said, “‘Waves’ brings a wide range of content for clean family viewing into every Indian home that can use this platform to watch, listen, read, play and shop in a curated environment. As a conscious step to unlock the potential of young creators in the creative economy, ‘Waves’ also offers its platform to content creators like the national creator awardees - Kamiya Jani, RJ Raunac, Shraddha Sharma of ‘Your Story’, tech guru Gaurav Chaudhary - some of whom are at IFFI.” ‘Waves’ has opened its portal to student grad films and film and media colleges like ‘FTII’, ‘Annapurna’ and ‘AAFT’ have partnered with ‘Prasar Bharati’ on ‘Waves’.

New films and shows on ‘Waves’ to be screened at IFFI include ‘Roll No. 52’, a student grad film from ‘Annapurna Film and Media Studio’ by Nagarjuna and Amala Akkineni aligning with the Young Film Maker’s theme of IFFI 2024; ‘Fauji 2.0’, a modern adaptation of the iconic 1980s Shahrukh Khan show ‘Fauji’ and will be screened by director Sandeep Singh and cast Gauhar Khan. The other films to be screened are Oscar winner Guneet Monga Kapoor’s social change film ‘Kicking Balls’, a true story on child marriages; ‘Jackson Halt’, a crime thriller by producer Neetu Chandra and ‘Jaiye Aap Kahan Jayenge’, a film with a social message of mobile toilets by Sanjay Mishra.

‘Spotlight on Waves’ includes live events like the ‘Prabhu Shriram Lalla Aarti’ live from Ayodhya and the monthly ‘Mann Ki Baat’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The upcoming US Premier League Cricket Tournament will be carried live on ‘Waves’ from November 22. ‘Waves’ has also launched a cyber security awareness campaign with daily video messages in partnership with ‘CDAC MeitY’. This campaign is backed by programmes such as ‘Cyber Crime Ki Duniya’ (a fictionalised series) and ‘Cyber Alert’ (by ‘DD News’ features). ‘Waves’ also carries a selection of popular animation programs including ‘Doggy Adventure’, ‘Chota Bheem’, ‘Tenaliram’ and ‘Akbar Birbal’ and games like ‘Krishna Jump’, ‘Fruit Chef’, ‘Ram the Yodha’ and ‘Cricket Premier League Tournament’.

Expanding the repertoire of content formats, language, genre and reach on ‘Waves’ are live channels including ‘Doordarshan’ and ‘Akashvani’ and private channels across multiple categories such as news, general entertainment, music, devotional and sports. Central government ministries and states are also joining hands with ‘Prasar Bharati’ to co-develop or contribute varied content such as docudramas, dramatised or fictionalised shows and reality shows with entertainment value as an effective vehicle for meaningful messages.

Some content includes a documentary on the 75th anniversary of the Supreme Court of India, cyber security awareness with ‘CDAC MeitY’; the NFDC archives titled ‘Cinemas of India’; the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s rare archival content like historical photos compiled in subject-wise photos albums and 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’.