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Granada TV available on StarHub from 1 December
MUMBAI: ITV Studios Global Entertainment will launch Granada TV on 1 December on the StarHub pay-TV platform. With this, Granada TV will now be available through both StarHub Cable TV and Singtel IPTV platforms.
The channel will initially be made available free to all StarHub TV customers for six months until 31 May next year. Thereafter, it will be part of a yet-to-be-announced packaging proposition.
Programmes that would be air on Granada TV in December include Prime Suspect, seasons three and four; A Christmas Carol, a contemporary version of the Charles Dickens classic starring Ross Kemp as Scrooge; The Springer Show, a UK version of the tabloid talk show hosted by Jerry Springer; Ant and Dec‘s Saturday Night Takeaway, a variety show.
Says StarHub VP – home solutions Ong Bee Lian, “We aim to consistently add value to our cable TV service by offering customers breadth with our wide range of branded channels, and depth in programming with our award-winning and highly rated content from around the world.”
“We are delighted to strengthen our selection of choice programming with the launch of Granada TV, and hope to give customers a taste of what StarHub TV has to offer in terms of UK content through this special preview period of the channel,” Lian added.
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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.
