Bharti Airtel rebrands OTT app as Airtel Xstream, adds live TV channels from TV18, Turner

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel has rebranded its over the top (OTT) platform Airtel TV as Airtel Xstream. The telco has also signed a deal with TV18 and Turner India to add a suite of entertainment channels to its offering.

The revamp of the mobile app was preceded by the launch of web version Airtel Xstream. Airtel Xstream promises to offer enhanced streaming experience, powerful UI and lots of different features.

With the addition of TV18 and Turner channels, Airtel Xstream’s live TV offering has jumped to 383 channels. Barring Star India, the telecom operator has deals with almost all the pay-TV broadcasters including Sony Pictures Networks India, ZEEL, Sun TV Network, and Discovery India.

Airtel Xstream also has a large library of movies, TV shows, and other VoD running into tens of thousands sourced from partners like ZEE5, Eros Now, Hooq, Hoichoi, ShareIt, Hungama, and ALT Balaji. It also offers Netflix and Amazon Prime Video content to select postpaid customers.

The new Airtel Xstream app a new improved live tv backbone to ensure that users have an experience with no buffering and no bugs.

Bharti Airtel is also offering Airtel Xstream smart stick which will allow consumers to view content from the OTT app on the big screen.

Recently, Bharti Airtel MD and CEO – India & South Asia Gopal Vittal had said that the company will launch converged set top box (STB) which will offer a full converged entertainment experience. The launch of this STB will allow the telco to have a converged play across multiple services.

“One of the things we are looking at is to bring in a box, which will kind of offer a full converged entertainment as well as the capacity to deliver broadband. This will happen soon, and we are very excited that once we do that, then it is a full converged play that we can potentially deliver across multiple spaces. There have been some concerns about cord-cutting in the urban areas and metros. We have not seen any evidence of that yet,” Vittal had said during the Q1 earnings conference call.