iWorld
NXTPLAY to give customers access to over 300,000 hours of content from international and regional OTT platforms
Mumbai: NXTDIGITAL, the digital media division of technology-led customer experience company Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd. (HGS), have rolled out their Over The Top (OTT) service strategy with the launch of NXTPLAY, their TV and Mobile application. This will be an extension of the successful ‘ONEDigital’ combo service, where the digital distribution major offers linear television, wireline broadband and other services at competitive price points.
NXTPLAY offers over 300,000 hours of local and global OTT content in the customer’s favourite genres and local languages. The app, which customers can download from the Google Playstore, is available for television and mobile phones and aims to fill content gaps accessible only through OTT channels. NXTPLAY enables a consumer to discover what content to watch, where to find it, and assess reviews. Consumers can browse content by topic, genre, source, and choice of language. Consumers can also add movies to their view lists and give ratings to the shows.
Commenting on the launch, NXTDIGITAL COO NK Rouse said, “For us, this is a continuation of one of our business principles centered around “Partnership for Growth”. We have always strived to provide our Digital Service Partners with innovative solutions for their customers. After digital TV via cable and HITS, broadband and other services like public WIFI and CCTV, adding OTT to our services portfolio was a natural progression – considering the surge in popularity of on-demand platforms in India. We’re sure our partners will be excited to engage with a wider universe of customers and build a new revenue stream through this.”
NXTDIGITAL advisor Mukund Sharma said, “NXTPLAY is designed as a one-stop content discovery and data platform. The smart recommendation engines for varied content, ease of payment and affordable prices are the three pillars of the service, ensuring consumer delight and long-term customer engagement and retention. Our partners OTTPlay, SABOT, and PLAYFLIX bring 25+ immensely popular OTT platforms with diversified linear and non-linear streams of multi-genre, niche and special interest content.”
iWorld
WhatsApp may soon let users to pick who sees their status updates
The messaging giant is borrowing a page from Instagram’s playbook as it pushes to give users finer control over their social circles.
CALIFORNIA: WhatsApp is quietly working on a feature that could make its Status function considerably smarter and considerably more private.
According to reports from beta tracking platforms, the app is testing a tool called Status lists, which would allow users to create named groups such as close friends, family and colleagues, and control precisely which group sees each update. It is a meaningful step up from the platform’s current blunt instruments, which offer only three options: share with all contacts, exclude specific people, or manually select individuals each time.
The new feature draws an obvious comparison with Instagram’s Close Friends function, and the resemblance is unlikely to be accidental. Both platforms sit within Meta’s family, and the company has been nudging them toward a common logic of audience segmentation for some time.
The move also fits neatly into WhatsApp’s broader privacy push. The platform has been rolling out enhanced chat protections and is exploring the introduction of usernames, which would allow users to connect without exchanging phone numbers. Status lists extend that philosophy from messaging into broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Status itself has been evolving well beyond its origins as a simple photo-and-text slideshow. The feature now supports music stickers, collages, longer videos and interactive elements, pushing it closer to the social-media-style story format pioneered by Snapchat and refined by Instagram. In that context, finer audience controls are not merely a privacy feature. They are a precondition for people sharing more.
The feature remains in development and has not been confirmed for release. WhatsApp routinely tests tools that are later modified or quietly shelved. But the direction of travel is clear: the app wants Status to be a destination, not an afterthought. Letting users decide exactly who is in the audience is how it gets there.
