Mumbai: Aamir Mulani Founder & CEO Playbox TV was speaking at Indiantelevision.com’s annual industry event, The Content Hub in Mumbai on Tuesday, in conversation with Associate Editor, Kalpana Ravi. Playbox TV was launched three years back. Basically, the idea was about bringing OTT and live TV into a single platform so that consumers can pay one single subscription to enjoy their television and OTT on a single platform. Till today, we have almost partnered with 26 Plus apps, and we are selling subscription for them. Similarly, we are activating more than 450 plus live TV channels, Mulani said.

“So, for a consumer, it is very simple, the consumer Playbox TV subscription is 30 to 40 per cent cheaper from the market. So that is the benefit for the consumer, other than that content creators. We have an existing distribution platform and Playbox TV is being bundled with 600 plus ISPs in the country and they are bundling this with their broadband connection. Similarly Playbox can get smaller ISPs to bundle OTT subscriptions and content creators and use this as a distribution channel. We are available in all the major pin codes in the country and more than 3.5 Crore pamphlets are getting printed every quarter and this kind of branding can be used to reach out to newer audiences."

Mulani added on and said, “The subscription is between 399 and 999 and depends on the package a consumer takes. If a consumer has a broadband connection then Playbox TV is free. If you have a 100 Mbps connection and you get six OTT apps and if you have a 200 Mbps connection, you get 14 OTT Apps. OTT is like VAS for the consumer, it is also helping ISP to sell more, because the consumer who is getting a broadband connection for the house is now wanting to watch Prime, or Netflix or any other GEC. A consumer who has been watching only TV is now exposed to broadband, and he no longer wants appointment viewing and does not want to pay different subscription for different platforms. So Playbox becomes very convenient for them. We have partners across India, the reason is we can reach where the bigger Telcos cannot reach to the remotest locations in the country because of the optical fibre dependency. Content creators can use this existing distribution channel to reach out to audiences and also get paid for it."

Ravi then asked, content producers with say probably few serials or movies can come onto Playbox TV to reach out to a wider audience, Mulani said, “Definitely in the last financial year, we sold almost 1.8 million subscriptions, and these are from a smaller town, ISP and cable operators who never thought they could also sell a broadband connection bundled with OTT. This is a more granular approach, any OTT player can create content. I believe the best part is that we have almost 180 Plus local channels and they are not available on DTH. So for example, a guy who has a small news channel in the interior of Maharashtra once he comes on to our App, then the content is accessible across India. That is the benefit of Playbox."

“My game plan is very simple. I want to be consistent in what we are doing, and I want to add more and more partners to the network. Presently we have 26 OTT Apps, but soon we will be 200 as new OTT Apps are coming into that deal. Apart from that we are also opening channels for individual creators. So for example, if you create a short film, you can come to the App and with a click of a button, you can create your own OTT App on Playbox TV and put your content and that content will be bundled with the existing ISP and Cable Operators. That is my vision." said Mulani. 

“Today Netflix and Amazon have not yet realised the potential of New India because Bharat lies in Tier 2 & 3 cities of the country and Netflix and Amazon are still figuring out that Tier 1 is their market. But if they come to PlayBox TV their content will be exposed to a larger audience," concluded Mulani.