Sports streaming apps sweat as Prasar Bharti makes a big move

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₹5,963 crore over the next five years. “While both Viacom18 and Disney Star are currently streaming sports for free on their OTT apps for mobile users, there might come a time when they would want to charge a subscription fee," said another broadcaster, also requesting anonymity.

"But if the same games are also streamed live on DD’s OTT service, why would anyone pay these private broadcasters?" Sources familiar with Prasar Bharti's plans indicate that the platform aims to curate a wide range of content, including news, entertainment and, potentially, sports. An email query sent to Prasar Bharati remained unanswered till press time.

Prasar Bharati’s move follows recommendations from a parliamentary panel in May 2023, which emphasised the need to regulate content on private OTT platforms to ensure it respects the cultural sensitivities of the country. The panel’s stance was reinforced by the blocking of 18 OTT platforms under the Information Technology Act, 2000, due to concerns about “vulgar and obscene" material.

While pointing out that the public broadcaster's move is aimed at addressing growing concerns on private OTT platforms' content, Kaushik Moitra, partner at law firm Bharucha & Partners, agrees with private sports broadcasters’ concern. “Sports broadcasters are required to share signals of nationally important events with Prasar Bharati for retransmission," said Moitra.

“The relevant law provides rights over DTH (direct-to-home) networks but does not explicitly mention OTT platforms or streaming services, which would need to be brought under its ambit to address this." Moitra added that this may put sports broadcasters in a "vulnerable place". In its latest notification of 2022, the ministry of information &