Decoding the X factor: Like most OTTs, MX Player is yet to break even

Like most OTTs, it is yet to break even. Unlike most, it doesn't have deep pockets

Karan Bedi looks weak. He is recovering from a bad bout of Covid and holds his head several times during an online interview. But that doesn’t stop the chief executive officer of MX Media from talking emphatically about how MX Player, a free over-the-top (OTT) platform, is different from a free-to-air (FTA) channel.

“We are a large FTA, but the problem is, in India, a free channel is only about mass content,” says Bedi. He points to ABC, CBS or NBC in the US. These are large (and free) networks that host big sporting events and shows like Friends, while