iWorld
Amazon Prime Video to add TV channels in India
MUMBAI: Taking an edge over its rival Netflix, Amazon Prime Video is looking at making a bold move. The OTT player wants to be a content housing platform that is soon likely to include even TV channels of India.
The section is called Amazon Prime Channels and is already live in other countries such as the US, UK and Japan. According to a report by The Hindu Business Line, Amazon Prime Video head of international originals James Farrel said that Amazon Prime Channels is soon heading to India.
Subscribers here can use their Prime accounts to watch channels like HBO, CBS, Starz, etc., without paying the cable bill. However, users will have to pay for every channel they choose and this will be in addition to the annual prime membership of Rs 999.
Amazon will still have a tough fight with other streaming platforms in the country that offer channels to watch. Leading OTT player Hotstar provides access to content from all 33 channels of its parent company Star India. Reliance Jio’s TV app also has over 500 channels to choose from.
Recently, Amazon announced a number of upcoming Originals that are going under production across the world. Some of them include Indian names such as Bandish Bandits, The Last Hour, an untitled drama thriller, an untitled drama, an untitled reality series and Comicstaan (Tamil). Amazon Prime Video India content director and head Vijay Subramaniam, in a recent interview, said that three new languages are to be added in the first six months of this year. The dropping of data rates across telecom operators has been a boon for OTT players and enabled them to go into regional content targeting rural and interior India.
iWorld
Tips Music CEO Hari Nair to step down
Girish Taurani and Sushant Dalmia to jointly steer the company as the hunt for a new chief begins
MUMBAI: A leadership shuffle is under way at Tips Music. Hari Nair, the company’s chief executive, will step down on April 30 as the music label begins the search for a successor.
The company said Girish Taurani, executive director, and Sushant Dalmia, chief financial officer, will jointly oversee operations during the transition while the board identifies a permanent replacement.
Nair joined Tips Music in 2023 and set about reshaping the veteran music label into a more digital, data-led enterprise. During his tenure, the company secured licensing and partnership deals with global platforms including Sony Music Publishing and TikTok, while renewing agreements with Warner Music Group.
Drawing on earlier experience in technology and entertainment, including a stint at ByteDance, Nair pushed the organisation towards a performance-driven culture. He built a brand partnerships division and introduced proprietary software systems aimed at strengthening digital distribution and data capabilities.
Kumar Taurani, chairman and managing director, credited Nair with embedding a data-led culture within the company and driving revenue growth in line with shareholder commitments.
In his resignation note, Nair said that after helping transition the label into a modern, digitally focused and process-driven organisation, the time had come to pursue his next leadership challenge.
The leadership change comes as the broader Tips Films group shows signs of financial stabilisation. In the third quarter of FY26 the company reported a net loss of Rs 2.86 crore, narrowing sharply from Rs 14.2 crore in the previous quarter. For the nine months ended December, losses stood at Rs 12.37 crore.
Yet revenue told a more volatile story. Income from operations slid to Rs 4 crore in Q3 FY26 from Rs 56 crore in the preceding quarter, taking total operating income to Rs 4.56 crore.
For a company built on a catalogue of more than 34,000 tracks and decades of Bollywood hits, the next chief will inherit both a digital engine and a volatile music market. The playlist may be familiar, but the next act at Tips Music is only just beginning.
