Disney is poised to buy out Comcast's remaining 33 percent stake in Hulu as early as January 2024 as top execs haggle over the worth of the U.S.-only streaming service amid a slowing subscriber market.

Netflix’s plan to get into advertising was unorthodox. It was seeking unusually high CPMs (the cost to reach 1,000 consumers), and targeting and tracking were nearly nonexistent.

Shibasish Sarkar has been unanimously elected as president of the Producers Guild of India (PGI) at the first meeting of its newly constituted guild council of management.

A few figures that emerged recently point to the way India’s linear television story, especially pay TV, is shaping up. The signals are unmistakeable: growth of the mammoth TV industry is hitting a wall. Linear television is now a commonly used term for traditional television where audiences tune in to watch scheduled programmes that are delivered via cable or direct-to-home (DTH) technology. This is opposed to over-the-top (OTT) video streaming, that is delivered over the internet and can be watched at one’s convenience.

Internet provider Earthlink has reached a tentative settlement with several filmmakers, to end an ongoing piracy liability lawsuit. The rightsholders accused the company of turning a blind eye to piracy and demanded far-reaching measures, which included handing over the identities of alleged pirates. The terms of the settlement remain private but may include a damages component.

"India needs to streamline its R&D efforts and investments from the academia, private and public institutions towards the larger cause of being self-reliant," said N G Subramaniam, COO & Executive Director, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Chairman, TSDSI and PCG Chairman of 3GPP.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has initiated a dialogue with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to avoid regulatory overlaps on the issue of cross-media ownership.

The draft bill has also enlarged the definition of telecommunication services, bringing over-the-top (OTT) communication services such as WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram, satellite-based communication services, internet and broadband services, in-flight and maritime connectivity services etc, under its ambit.

Netflix has maintained a significant subscriber lead over rivals Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video in Australia, Asia-Pacific’s most mature online video market. Increasingly, though, all platforms down under are pivoting towards the new top metric of profitability rather than simple subscriber growth.