iWorld
Murdoch wants media to unite against Amazon and Netflix
NEW DELHI: Media magnate Rupert Murdoch has called for a cooperative media response to challenger streaming services Amazon and Netflix.
He said during a technology conference by his flagship Wall Street Journal at Laguna Beach that the media industry needs its own competitor to these giants.
“As an industry, we need a competitor – a serious competitor – to Netflix and Amazon,” Murdoch said and added, “I think we are all on the same page.”
21st Century Fox, which he chairs, is one of the partners in Hulu, a rival to Netflix, alongside Disney and NBCUniversal. Last year, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar left abruptly for a new video startup, Vessel, backed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
Talking of HBO’s new streaming service Murdoch said it would be difficult for HBO to launch a standalone service while negotiating with cable companies. “They do not want to get into conflict with them, so they’re really only aiming at the moment at the 10 million people who don’t get cable.”
Murdoch briefly addressed 21st Century Fox’s failed bid for Time Warner over the summer. “We felt that we needed more critical mass and content and this was a wonderful marriage and fit,” he said.
Given that the panel was entitled “Bets Won and Lost,” the conversation turned to one of Murdoch’s most notable failed investments, the $580 million purchase of MySpace that ended with the sale of the social media site for $35 million. The mogul reiterated, as he has many times, what happened.
“We just messed it up,” Murdoch recalled, saying that he helped install a layer of bureaucracy that hindered the growth of the site. “It was a series of expensive, lost opportunities.”
iWorld
Talk to your telly: JioHotstar’s new AI voice feature reads your mood to suggest shows
The streaming giant ditches the scroll for a “conversational” AI that understands moods, cricket and Hinglish
MUMBAI: The era of the endless scroll may finally be over. JioHotstar has officially flicked the switch on its “Conversational Voice Discovery” (CVD) feature, a high-tech overhaul designed to turn the hunt for a Friday night film into a natural chat. Developed in a landmark partnership with OpenAI, the tool moves beyond clunky keyword searches, allowing users to find content by describing their mood, context or even the most bizarre viewing scenarios.
The feature is vision of Uday Shankar, vice chairman of JioStar, whose goal is to eliminate “content overload” by replacing the tedious, traditional scroll with natural dialogue. By leveraging ChatGPT’s ability to grasp context and cultural nuance, the new mobile interface allows users to bypass menus entirely, turning search into a seamless conversation.
The launch, which rolled out across India this month, sees a ChatGPT-powered interface integrated directly into the heart of the app. Instead of typing “action movie” into a sterile search bar, viewers can now speak to their devices as if they were asking a well-read friend for a tip. For now, the feature is exclusive to the mobile app, with a rollout for Connected TV (CTV) expected in later phases.
Beyond the keyword
The CVD feature is built on what JioStar calls “Multilingual Cognitive Search.” It is designed to interpret nuance rather than just matching text. If you tell the app, “I’ve had a long day, give me something mindless and funny,” it won’t just look for those words in a title; it will sift through 300,000 hours of library content to find a light-hearted sitcom or a stand-up special that fits the vibe.
The tech is natively multilingual, catering to India’s diverse linguistic landscape. Users can switch effortlessly between languages—asking for “Koi light-hearted comedy dikhao” (show me some light-hearted comedy) or requesting a “Thriller hai but zyada dark nahi chahiye” (a thriller that isn’t too dark).
Real-time curiosity and live sports
Perhaps the most ambitious aspect of the rollout is its integration with live sports. During a high-stakes cricket match, the AI acts as a digital companion. Fans can ask, “Who is the top scorer right now?” or “Show me that last wicket again,” and the system will pull the relevant data or clips instantly. It even attempts to explain the “why” behind the crowd’s energy, responding to prompts like, “Why is everyone reacting like that?” by contextualizing on-field events.
A shift in streaming strategy
The move is part of a broader reimagining of the entertainment experience following the massive merger between JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar. Uday Shankar noted that the goal is to make premium entertainment “truly accessible” by embedding AI at the core of the user journey. By anticipating culture and context, the platform hopes to kill off “decision fatigue.”
For OpenAI, the partnership represents a major play in the Indian market. Fidji Simo, the head of applications at OpenAI, said the goal was to turn a “one-way” passive consumption experience into a “deeply personal conversation.”
As the feature goes live for millions of subscribers, the message from Bombay House is clear: the remote control is becoming obsolete. Whether you’re looking for a show that “feels like a rainy Sunday afternoon” or a crime series with a “strong female lead but not too violent,” all you have to do is ask.
