iWorld
Hotstar & CBS agree to bring Showtime content & brand to India
MUMBAI: Hotstar, India’s largest premium streaming platform, and CBS Corporation today announced an SVOD content licensing and trademark agreement for SHOWTIME in India. The agreement will introduce the SHOWTIME brand to India for the first time and bring a roster of Emmy® and Golden Globe® winning programming from SHOWTIME to the territory.
The agreement will provide Hotstar Premium subscribers in India access to future SHOWTIME series such as the new comedy SMILF, the new limited series, ESCAPE AT DANNEMORA, starring Oscar® winners Benicio Del Toro and Patricia Arquette and Golden Globe nominee Paul Dano, and the new TWIN PEAKS. Also available to Hotstar Premium subscribers are hundreds of hours of critically-acclaimed series including THE AFFAIR, BILLIONS, RAY DONOVAN and the recently premiered, I’M DYING UP HERE.
Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan said, “Over the last year, we have established Hotstar Premium as the most exciting destination for American TV shows and movies in India on demand. We have been continuously raising the bar on what is already the best streaming service for an Indian audience interested in international stories. The deal with CBS is in line with our strategy of bringing the best of new shows and movies from around the world to our Premium subscribers. Today, SHOWTIME joins an exciting slate on Hotstar. It is clear that there is no equivalent service like this in India, or, frankly, anywhere in the world. We are clear that we are building Hotstar Premium as the most compelling subscription service that will showcase the best story tellers from around the world.”
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Hotstar to bring critically-acclaimed programming from SHOWTIME to Indian audiences,” said CBS Studios International president and CEO Armando Nuñez. “Thanks to this agreement and other partnerships with top platforms around the world, the footprint of the SHOWTIME brand and programming continues to expand in the global marketplace.”
For CBS Corporation, similar agreements for SHOWTIME have been announced with FOX Networks Group in Asia, Canal+ Group in France, along with Sky UK, Germany and Italy, Bell Canada, Stan Australia, Movistar Spain and other output partners around the world.
Setting its sights on shaping the connected TV experience in India, Hotstar appropriated the top spot on iTunes as Apple TV’s App of the Year for India in 2016. The recognition came on the back of a breakthrough year in which Hotstar continued to lead and disrupt the Indian market place. The service has more than 250 million downloads to date, and was the first local service to cross 100 million downloads on the Google Play Store. Globally, only one other video streaming app has hit the same milestone.
Hotstar Premium now becomes the one of the few services in the world with exclusive content partnerships with the best global studios like Disney, Fox, HBO, and, now, SHOWTIME.
e-commerce
American Express to acquire AI startup Hyper to boost automation
Deal targets expense management as AI reshapes corporate spending tools.
MUMBAI: From receipts to robots, the expense sheet is getting a brain upgrade as American Express moves to bring artificial intelligence into the heart of corporate spending. The company has announced plans to acquire Hyper, a relatively young but fast-rising startup founded in 2022 that builds AI-powered agents capable of organising expenses, generating reports, verifying compliance with budgets and policies, and nudging users with timely reminders. The deal, expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, underscores a growing shift among financial institutions to automate traditionally manual, time-heavy workflows.
Hyper counts Sam Altman among its backers, adding a layer of Silicon Valley credibility to the acquisition. While financial details remain undisclosed, the strategic intent is clear: deepen automation capabilities and sharpen American Express’s position in the competitive corporate spending ecosystem.
The two companies are not strangers. They previously collaborated in 2024 on a co-branded credit card product, suggesting that the acquisition is less a cold buy and more an extension of an existing relationship. With this move, American Express is effectively bringing that capability in-house, aiming to embed AI directly into its commercial services stack.
Chief executive Stephen Squeri had already signalled the direction of travel in a recent shareholder letter, describing AI as a “structural shift” in how businesses operate. The Hyper acquisition appears to be a direct response to that shift, particularly in expense management, where processes such as approvals, compliance checks and reporting remain ripe for automation.
Alongside the acquisition, the company is also expanding its product suite. A recently launched business credit card offers cashback and benefits at an annual fee of $295, with another card expected later this year moves that complement its broader push into commercial services.
Taken together, the strategy points to a future where managing expenses may require fewer spreadsheets and more algorithms. For American Express, the bet is simple, if businesses are rethinking how work gets done, the tools that power that work need to evolve just as quickly.
