iWorld
Discovery Plus app launches on Amazon Fire TV
MUMBAI: Discovery Plus is catching on with passionate communities across the country appreciating and enjoying the world-class content across 40+ genres such as Science, Adventure, Food, Lifestyle among others. In addition to being available on Android, iOS and on the desktop & mobile web, Discovery Plus is now also available on Amazon Fire TV. Within a week of the launch on Amazon Fire TV, Discovery Plus proved its mettle in the living room screen experience by netting an impressive 41.3 minutes per subscriber* per day.
Discovery Plus also augmented its content to celebrate the launch with a collection of new ‘Big Screen Delight’ titles dropping every day of the week. Over the last week, Discovery Plus dropped marquee content specials including NASA and SpaceX: Journey To The Future, Carter’s War, Space Launch: America Returns To Space, How The Universe Works and Expedition Asia with Ryan Pyle. Additionally, starting today audiences can now stream Nature’s Strangest Mysteries Solved, Mythbusters and season 10 of the very popular show Gold Rush on their Fire TV devices.
Discovery Plus, emphasizing the big-screen delight experience, launched a new marketing campaign that will run across all 14 Discovery network channels as well as on all key digital platforms. Discovery Plus is also amplifying spends on performance marketing to ensure that all enthusiasts are aware of new platforms debut on Amazon Fire TV.
“One of the foremost demands put forth by ardent fans of Discovery+ has been met with the launch of our app on Fire TV. Our tremendous engagement on FireTV bears testament to that. Besides the convenience of consuming the largest repository of premium real-life entertainment content across devices, our audiences have loved the experience of watching Discovery+ on big screen and that’s what this launch on Fire TV allows us to provide. Our marketing campaign too builds on this simple, yet critical insight,” Discovery digital South Asia business head Issac John said.
“Our endeavour has been to offer Fire TV customers the widest selection and a frictionless way to discover their favourite content. Discovery Plus indexes a vast range of content about our planet, its rich culture, history, flora and fauna as well as the contribution of science and technology in the evolution of the human race. We are excited to add this selection to Fire TV customers in India,” Amazon Devices India head Parag Gupta said.
iWorld
Meta signs multiyear AI deal with News Corp
Agreement worth up to $50 million annually covers WSJ, New York Post and UK titles.
MUMBAI: Meta just bought itself a front-row seat to the newsroom because when AI needs facts, even Zuckerberg is willing to pay the subscription fee. Meta Platforms has signed a multiyear artificial intelligence content licensing agreement with News Corp that could be worth up to $50 million (£39 million) a year, The Wall Street Journal reported on 25 February 2026. The deal, expected to run for at least three years, grants Meta access to News Corp’s US and UK content including The Wall Street Journal and New York Post for training AI models and powering real-time information retrieval in its products.
Australian mastheads such as the Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun are not included. News Corp CEO Robert Thomson revealed the arrangement during a Morgan Stanley technology conference in San Francisco, describing news organisations as a vital “input company” in the AI ecosystem. “We’re essentially an input company,” he said. “The great threat in the age of AI is going to be to what you might call output companies.”
Thomson emphasised the value of reliable journalism as foundational infrastructure for AI systems, noting regular conversations with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg via Whatsapp and ongoing talks with OpenAI’s Sam Altman. He added that News Corp is in “advanced stage” negotiations for additional deals, promising further announcements soon.
The agreement follows News Corp’s 2024 five-year partnership with OpenAI (reportedly worth more than $250 million) and reflects Meta’s broader push to secure content licences. The company has already confirmed deals with People Inc, USA Today, CNN and Fox News, though financial terms remain undisclosed.
Publishers remain divided, some pursue partnerships for revenue, while others litigate. News Corp subsidiaries have sued Perplexity over copyright infringement, The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft, yet the same NYT struck a separate AI licensing deal with Amazon reportedly worth $20–25 million annually.
Thomson summed up the dual strategy as “woo or sue” seeking commercial agreements where possible, legal action when content is used without permission.
In an AI race where data is oxygen, Meta isn’t just training models, it’s buying the raw material for tomorrow’s answers, one headline at a time.
