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DAS: Televisions to go blank in north-east & east Delhi on 20 Jan
NEW DELHI: Around one million households in north-east and east Delhi will go without their favourite television programmes as cable operators are observing a blackout on 20 January to protest against the "unfair and unworkable" revenue-sharing formula under the digital addressable system (DAS).
About 200 cable operators from the two areas of the capital will join in the blackout, which will be for 24 hours to begin with.
Ashok Pandit, representing the cable operators from the trans-Yamuna east Delhi areas, told indiantelevision.com the cable operators fully supported the decision to go digital, but the revenue sharing where the cable operator who did the entire ground work got only Rs 45 out of every basic service tier of free to air 100 channels costing Rs 100.
The balance is shared with the multi-system operator (MSO).
Pandit said residents who were paying just Rs 100 to Rs 150 under the analogue system would now have to pay two or three times more than that, and will also have to purchase a digital set-top box (STB).
The cable TV operators have already submitted memorandums to the Delhi government and the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry in this connection but failed to get satisfactory replies.
Pandit said if the blackout proves successful, cable operators from other areas of the capital may also join the protest demanding a higher revenue share and lower tariffs for consumers.
The Cable Operators Federation of India President Roop Sharma, who is also a member of the I&B Ministry‘s Task Force on Digitisation, said the blackout will be in phases and will be held in other parts of the capital as well, and may later be taken to other metros.
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
