iWorld
Vodafone Idea partners Sun NXT
MUMBAI: Vodafone Idea, the telecom service provider in India, today announced a strategic partnership with Sun TV Network. Network’s OTT platform, Sun NXT, which has over 50,000+ hours of content will now be accessible to Vodafone Idea customers. This partnership will offer Vodafone Idea’s customers access to Sun NXT’s exclusive digital content which caters to Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam audiences.
Customers are increasingly looking forward to entertainment in regional languages. Through this partnership, Vodafone Idea has widened its bouquet of regional content through Sun NXT on Vodafone Play and Idea Movies and TV app respectively.
Commenting on the partnership, Vodafone Idea CMO Sashi Shankar said, “When it comes to content, we are singularly focused on providing entertainment to our customers keeping in mind their consumption, languageand culture. We believe that video and vernacular are the new growth drivers in digital content consumption today, especially in markets of South India. Regional content creates affinity amongst the consumers. We are delighted to partner with Sun TV Network to provide enriched entertainment to our customers by offering high quality regional content on Vodafone &Idea’s Mobile apps.”
Sun NXT will power 30 + Live TV channels, 4000+ movies and a huge repository of TV shows, music videos and short format content on both Vodafone Play and Idea Movies & TV App. Vodafone Idea is first in the industry to launch this partnership for the entire catalogue including movies.
Sun NXT Spokesperson said, “Vodafone Play and Idea Movies & TV app has built a robust portfolio of regional content. Now with Sun NXT, customers will have access to South India’s biggest movie library, Top TV shows and Live TV in their native language.”
The customers will be able to access top TV channels like Sun TV, Gemini TV, Udaya TV, Surya TV and many other such channels and also popular movies and top-rated TV shows across the four languages on Sun NXT through Vodafone Play and Idea Movies &TV.
From its launch in June 2017 till now, Sun NXT has fast become the most preferred content consumption destination for South Indians, not only in India but also across the World.
iWorld
WhatsApp may soon let users to pick who sees their status updates
The messaging giant is borrowing a page from Instagram’s playbook as it pushes to give users finer control over their social circles.
CALIFORNIA: WhatsApp is quietly working on a feature that could make its Status function considerably smarter and considerably more private.
According to reports from beta tracking platforms, the app is testing a tool called Status lists, which would allow users to create named groups such as close friends, family and colleagues, and control precisely which group sees each update. It is a meaningful step up from the platform’s current blunt instruments, which offer only three options: share with all contacts, exclude specific people, or manually select individuals each time.
The new feature draws an obvious comparison with Instagram’s Close Friends function, and the resemblance is unlikely to be accidental. Both platforms sit within Meta’s family, and the company has been nudging them toward a common logic of audience segmentation for some time.
The move also fits neatly into WhatsApp’s broader privacy push. The platform has been rolling out enhanced chat protections and is exploring the introduction of usernames, which would allow users to connect without exchanging phone numbers. Status lists extend that philosophy from messaging into broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Status itself has been evolving well beyond its origins as a simple photo-and-text slideshow. The feature now supports music stickers, collages, longer videos and interactive elements, pushing it closer to the social-media-style story format pioneered by Snapchat and refined by Instagram. In that context, finer audience controls are not merely a privacy feature. They are a precondition for people sharing more.
The feature remains in development and has not been confirmed for release. WhatsApp routinely tests tools that are later modified or quietly shelved. But the direction of travel is clear: the app wants Status to be a destination, not an afterthought. Letting users decide exactly who is in the audience is how it gets there.
