MAM
Selva Prabu steps up as director content marketing Tamil
CHENNAI: Selva Prabu has pressed play on a new chapter in his career, taking charge as director, content marketing for Tamil business at JioStar, overseeing strategy for JioHotstar and Star Vijay. Based in Chennai, the role places him at the heart of one of India’s most competitive and culturally vibrant media markets.
Sharing the news, Prabu said he was excited about the road ahead, a sentiment that fits neatly with a career built on curiosity, reinvention and a keen understanding of audiences. His appointment marks a steady rise within the organisation, where he has spent the past four years shaping marketing initiatives and steering brand narratives.
Before stepping into the director’s chair in November 2025, Prabu served as senior manager, marketing at JioStar, where he worked across campaigns, partnerships and content positioning. His ability to blend data with instinct has made him a familiar name in media marketing circles.
Prabu’s professional story, however, began well before streaming platforms and television ratings dashboards. He cut his teeth in journalism-led organisations, notably Deccan Herald, where he worked as senior brand manager. There, he helped build product portfolios, sharpened reader insight frameworks and worked closely with editorial teams to ensure that business sense never drowned out storytelling.
An even longer chapter unfolded at The Hindu Group, where Prabu handled brands including BusinessLine, Sportstar, Frontline and The Hindu Lounge. His work ranged from relaunching legacy titles and creating brand events to setting up the group’s first experience store in Chennai. Notably, he played a role in expanding community-led initiatives and managing large-scale public campaigns, proving that marketing can be both commercial and civic-minded.
Earlier stints at Wan-Ifra, Ogilvy and Mphasis rounded out his profile, giving him exposure to training, consulting, client servicing and even technology-led quality assurance. It is an unusually broad foundation for someone now tasked with marketing entertainment, but perhaps that is the point.
As Tamil content continues to travel from living rooms to mobile screens, Prabu’s mix of newsroom discipline and brand-building flair may be just what the script calls for.
MAM
Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
