iWorld
Discovery extends David Zaslav’s employment contract
MUMBAI: When you swing a deal like he has done, you probably deserve to be rewarded. Discovery president & CEO David Zaslav played a key role in getting AT&T’s WarnerMedia to align itself with the network he leads, an announcement of which was made earlier this week. Well, his labour has yielded fruit as his employment contract has been extended to run through 31 December 2027 from its previous effective date of 2023.
Of course, we all know that the merger of the two media firms will lead to the creation of a behemoth offering WarnerMedia’s premium entertainment, sports, and news assets and Discovery’s leading nonfiction and international entertainment and sports businesses. And it was announced that Zaslav will lead the proposed new company.
Since joining it in 2007, Zaslav has steered Discovery to new heights starting with taking it public in 2008, stream rolling it into the Fortune500 in 2014, acquiring Scripps Networks Interactive, in a transaction which closed in 2018 and ramping up its direct-to-consumer efforts under discovery+. The definitive real-life subscription streaming service launched in the US in January 2021 with more than 55,000 episodes, and internationally, continues its rollout to more than 25 markets and accounts for 15 million subs already.
The Discovery comprises nearly 20 per cent of ad-supported pay-TV viewership in the US and nearly seven billion monthly video views, making it the No 1 pay-TV portfolio in Uncle Sam, claims a press release. And its global distribution has surpassed three billion viewers.
Before Discovery Zaslav had a distinguished career at NBCUniversal, where he was instrumental in developing and launching CNBC and also played a role in the creation of MSNBC.
iWorld
OneOTT partners with UP govt for Project GANGA broadband rollout
Initiative to connect 2M plus households, empower 8,000–10,000 entrepreneurs in 2–3 years.
MUMBAI: Uttar Pradesh just got a digital Ganga flow because when broadband meets ambition, even villages start streaming faster than city traffic. OneOTT Intertainment Ltd. (OIL), the broadband arm of Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) under the Hinduja Group, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the State Transformation Commission (STC), Government of Uttar Pradesh, for Project GANGA (Government Assisted Network for Growth & Advancement).
The MoU, signed on 7 March 2026 in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Finance & Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna, aims to empower 8,000–10,000 local entrepreneurs at the Nyaya Panchayat level as independent Digital Service Providers (DSPs). A significant number of these DSPs are expected to be women. The initiative will deliver high-speed broadband to over 2 million households in the next 2–3 years and create direct and indirect employment for more than 100,000 individuals.
Project GANGA will support government priorities in digital education, healthcare and public services while enabling MSMEs and enterprises with reliable connectivity. DSPs will receive structured training, financing assistance, network build-out support and technology enablement.
STC CEO Manoj Kumar Singh said, “Project GANGA is a significant step toward expanding inclusive digital infrastructure in Uttar Pradesh. By empowering local entrepreneurs, the program will strengthen service delivery and ensure affordable digital access for underserved communities.”
OIL, MD & CEO and HGS whole-time director Vynsley Fernandes added, “This initiative reflects our long-term commitment to enabling digital access and economic opportunity at scale. Project GANGA is structured as a multi-year program focused on entrepreneur onboarding, network deployment and workforce development.”
OIL brings execution strength backed by HGS and NXTDIGITAL’s national footprint, which already connects over 5 million homes across more than 4,500 pin codes in 1,500 cities and towns through 15,000 plus franchise partners and over 2 lakh kilometres of fibre infrastructure. The ecosystem will support broadband, IPTV, OTT, CCTV, satellite internet and cybersecurity solutions for households, businesses and public institutions.
In a state racing toward digital inclusion, Project GANGA isn’t just laying cables, it’s laying the foundation for millions to connect, learn, heal and earn, one Nyaya Panchayat at a time.
