JioTV, the IPTV service from Reliance Jio is now available on the open Internet as well.
Live TV channels can be watched by anyone on their PC using a Jio ID and an Internet connection.
The Jio ID, however, can be set only by using a Jio phone number and a one-time password.
The service, hitherto available only on the official app, is India’s largest live TV streaming service.
Unlike competing services that support only around 100-200 channels, JioTV supports over 500 channels.
Nearly all channels available in India is also present on the app, except for Star Sports, which are available on the rival Hotstar app.
As of the last update, the service had 8 business news channels, 41 devotional channels, 106 entertainment channels, 34 infotainment channels, 26 kids Channels, 14 lifestyle channels, 44 movie channels, 40 music channels, 174 news channels and 21 sports channels.
The company is reported to have spent hundreds, if not thousands, of crores of rupees to get the right to transmit these channels on its app and website.
The service is currently free, but could turn paid at a later date.
The service works on any broadband connection, as long as the user has a Jio ID to log in.
Other operators have tried to compete with the service by launching platforms like Idea Play, Vodafone Play, Airtel TV and so on. These are currently available only on mobile.
It is not clear whether this is a commercial launch of the service or only meant as a pilot service.
At the time of publication of this article, the jiotv.com website was extremely slow in responding to requests and it was practically impossible to load the programs, though the site itself was loading.
A Youtube user has made a video of the website in action, which can be seen below.
https://youtu.be/-hALmgrkUpE