Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati is seeking applications from broadcasters for streaming their linear TV channels on its OTT platform, for a period of one year. Only channels licensed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) for downlinking and distribution throughout India are eligible to apply and for streaming on the OTT platform.
The deadline for sending applications is August 12, according to a notification from the pubcaster.
Categorization of TV channels with genres/language of channel for on-boarding on PB OTT Platform will be as below:
i) News & Current Affairs National Channels of Hindi language
ii) News & Current Affairs-English language
iii) Non-News & Current Affairs National channels (All languages)
iv) Non-News & Current Affairs Regional channels
Broadcasters interested in applying will be required to provide SCTE- 35 /ad marker enabled feed of channel, which can signal the start and end times of advertisements breaks, of the channel, the notification added.
It stated that the clean feed of successful channel will be carried on OTT platform on revenue sharing basis which will be in the ratio of 65:35 of the net revenue generated from the channel by inserting advertisements (65% to channel and 35 % to Prasar Bharati). (Net revenue for this purpose is defined as revenue earned from the channel after adjusting all costs borne by Prasar Bharati for the respective channel such as transcoding cost, CDN cost, commission of the Ad agency hired for Ad insertion.)
The pubcaster also stated that advertisements on OTT stream will be inserted by Prasar Bharati, at appropriate juncture of the stream as per the availability of SCTE-35 marker. If Prasar Bharati is not able to fill the entire ad duration, the left over duration will be utilised for promos of Prasar Bharati and the respective streaming channels.
It added, “All applicant TV channels will be ranked on the basis of DAVP rates card. The selection criteria will be on the basis of the highest rate of a channel under all the time bands, among each of the above categories. Channels having highest rates as per DAVP rates card, in the respective category, shall be selected for streaming on OTT Platform.”
Streaming ahead
In April 2024, Storyboard18 had exclusively reported that Prasar Bharati is accelerating its foray into the streaming space and was seeking media sales muscle. After releasing a draft RFP (Request for Proposal) last year outlining the platform’s features and goals, the pubcaster issued a fresh e-tender on April 19 for a multimedia and media sales agency contract.
The e-tender invites bids from pre-approved DAVP (CBC) multimedia and media sales agencies for a Rs. 4 crore contract (including taxes). The scope of work for the agencies will include branding, marketing, promotion, media planning, sales, and media buying for the platform across pre-launch, launch, and post-launch phases.
The chosen agency will be responsible for crafting a comprehensive strategy to generate excitement for the platform using various media channels. The contract spans the first 12 months following the launch and is extendable up to another 12 months based on performance review.
As per the tender document accessed by Storyboard18, scope of work related to media planning, selling and buying includes, media plan development, refinements, and amendments, as needed throughout the course of the fiscal year, create holistic media plan recommendations reflective of the key metrics, research against the target audience, and creative direction to satisfy the vision of reaching rural and urban audiences for a diverse and inclusive reach supporting a monetisation plan for the OTT , targeting audience development for all core general market targets.