iWorld
US-based Flickfusion Media’s Chull OTT launches with a bang, promises unfiltered stories for India’s restless streamers
MUMBAI: In a market already brimming with over-the-top content, a new disruptor has made its debut with more ‘chull’ than chill. Flickfusion Media INC, a U.S.-based digital media company, officially launched Chull OTT in India, aiming to rewrite the rules of streaming with stories that are unfiltered, unafraid, and unapologetically local.
Launched from Mumbai, the platform draws inspiration from the Hindi slang ‘chull’ — that unstoppable itch for change. And that’s precisely what the platform claims to bring to India’s estimated $13 billion OTT market by 2030. While global giants continue to churn out algorithm-tested content, Chull OTT bets on regional narratives, experimental formats, and bold, emotionally resonant storytelling.
“We’re here to shake things up by offering fresh, bold, and emotionally gripping stories that mainstream platforms often overlook,” said Flickfusion Media INC CEO Deepak Joshi. “India’s vibrant storytelling culture deserves a space where creativity isn’t restricted by formulas — and Chull OTT is that space.”
The platform enters the scene with a slate of multi-language content across Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Bangla.
The promise?
Uncensored originals spanning drama, comedy, and documentaries. An AI-powered recommendation engine tailors content based on viewing behaviour, while the app is fine-tuned for low-bandwidth environments — a nod to India’s thriving tier two and tier three markets.
Chull OTT also comes armed with a clean, user-friendly interface and aggressive pricing. Subscriptions start at Rs 79 a week, Rs 149 monthly, Rs 329 quarterly, and Rs 579 annually — designed to fit screens and wallets alike.
Collaborations with regional creators, local production houses, and telecom partners are already underway. The company has promised strict adherence to data privacy and cultural sensitivity standards, hoping to build trust as well as audience share.
Whether it is a gritty docuseries about small-town India, a rebellious rom-com, or a no-holds-barred stand-up special, Chull OTT says it isn’t playing safe — and that might just be its most binge-worthy promise.
iWorld
Bill Ackman makes a $64bn bid for Universal Music Group
The hedge fund boss wants to list the world’s biggest record label in New York and thinks he knows exactly what ails it
NEW YORK: Bill Ackman wants to buy the world’s biggest record label. Pershing Square Capital Management, the hedge fund run by the billionaire investor, submitted a non-binding proposal on Tuesday to acquire all outstanding shares of Universal Music Group in a business combination transaction worth roughly $64.4 billion (around 55.8 billion euros).
Under the terms of the offer, UMG shareholders would receive 9.4 billion euros in cash, equivalent to 5.05 euros per share, plus 0.77 shares of a newly created company, dubbed New UMG, for each share held. Pershing Square values the total package at 30.40 euros per share, a 78 per cent premium to UMG’s closing price on April 2.
The deal would see UMG merge with Pershing Square SPARC Holdings, with the combined entity incorporating as a Nevada corporation and listing on the New York Stock Exchange. New UMG would publish financial statements under US GAAP and become eligible for S&P 500 index inclusion. Pershing Square says the transaction is expected to close by year-end, with all equity financing backstopped by Ackman’s firm and its affiliates, and all debt financing committed at signing. The transaction would cancel 17 per cent of UMG’s outstanding shares, leaving New UMG with 1.541 billion shares outstanding.
Ackman has a long history with UMG. Pershing Square first bought approximately 10 per cent of the company from Vivendi in the summer of 2021 for around $4 billion, around the time of UMG’s listing on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange. He has since trimmed that position, raising around $1.4 billion from the sale of a 2.7 per cent stake in March 2025, and resigned from UMG’s board in May 2025, citing new executive and board obligations arising from recent investments.
His diagnosis of UMG’s troubles is blunt. The company’s stock has fallen around 33 per cent over the past twelve months on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange, and Ackman lays out six reasons why. These include uncertainty around the Bolloré Group’s 18 per cent stake in the company, the postponement of UMG’s US listing, the underutilisation of UMG’s balance sheet, the absence of a publicly disclosed capital allocation plan and earnings algorithm, a failure to reflect UMG’s 2.7 billion euro stake in Spotify in its valuation, and what Ackman calls suboptimal shareholder investor relations, communications and engagement.
The Bolloré stake has long cast a shadow over the company. Cyrille Bolloré stepped down from UMG’s board in July 2025 as the Bolloré Group battled the French financial markets regulator over its stake in Vivendi, which holds a further capital interest in UMG. UMG had confidentially filed a draft registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in July 2025 for a proposed secondary listing in America, but put those plans on hold in March 2026, citing market conditions.
Ackman has kind words for UMG’s management, at least. “Since UMG’s listing, Lucian Grainge and the company’s management have done an excellent job nurturing and continuing to build a world-class artist roster and generating strong business performance,” he said. But he made his diagnosis plain: “UMG’s stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business and importantly, all of them can be addressed with this transaction.”
In other words, Ackman believes UMG is a great business trapped inside a broken structure. If the board agrees, he intends to fix that, loudly and in New York.
