iWorld
YuppTV set to close Rs 100-crore plus funding
MUMBAI: The OTT video space is slated to get hyper-competitive with a slew of broadcaster-led players and even deep-pocketed telcos haring into it. YuppTV, one of the early movers, has now decided to fortify its financial resources in a bid to face the onslaught.
The company – led by Uday Reddy – says it is on the threshold of closing its second round of funding which will see it adding funds running into three digit crore to its kitty. Speaking to Hindu BusinessLine, Reddy said that the company has already pocketed $15 million in its Series A, and was about to close its next round of fund-raising.
Reddy sees the market heading toward consolidation. “We are contemplating acquiring a firm to strengthen our leadership,” Reddy informed BusinessLine. YuppTV has also appointed the Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu as its brand ambassador.
It offers a bouquet of services including 200 TV channels, seven-day catch-up TV, 100-plus TV shows, and 5,000 plus movies as a VOD service. Its subscription packages vary from Rs 5 a day to Rs 30 a week to Rs 99 a month.
YuppTV is taking a major step with making Babu the ambassador. Babu is a big name of Tollywood, and it is sure that the collaboration will work great for the promotion of the channel.
The web portal of YuppTV was established in 2006, offers more than 898 Indian TV Channels in 13 languages that include Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, Oriya, Gujarati, Punjabi, Sinhalese, Urdu and English. The best part of YuppTV is it allows access through 25 devices to six screens, Internet STBs, connected TVs, PCs, smart phones, smart BluRay players, gaming consoles and tablets.
iWorld
Netflix cuts jobs in product division amid restructuring
Layoffs hit creative studio unit as leadership and strategy shifts unfold.
MUMBAI: The streaming wars may be fought on screen, but the latest plot twist is unfolding behind the scenes. Netflix has reportedly begun laying off several dozen employees from its product division as part of an internal reorganisation, according to a report by Variety. The cuts are believed to have primarily affected the company’s creative studio unit, which works on marketing assets such as in app trailers, promotional visuals and live experience content for the streaming platform.
The company has not disclosed the exact number of employees impacted.
According to the report, the layoffs were not tied to employee performance. Instead, the restructuring eliminated certain roles while other employees were reassigned to different teams within the organisation.
The roles affected are understood to include designers, producers and creative specialists responsible for marketing and brand experience initiatives.
The job cuts come as Netflix adjusts its leadership structure and reshapes its product and creative teams. Last month, Elizabeth Stone was promoted from chief technology officer to chief product and technology officer, giving her oversight of product, engineering and data operations across the company.
Earlier, in December 2025, Netflix also appointed Martin Rose as head of creative for global brand and partnerships, a move seen as part of a broader restructuring of the company’s brand and product functions.
Despite the layoffs, Netflix remains one of the largest employers in the streaming sector. The company is estimated to employ around 16,000 people globally, with roughly 70 percent of its workforce based in the United States and Canada. In 2023, the company reported approximately 13,000 employees, indicating that its headcount had grown significantly before the latest restructuring.
The workforce changes arrive at a time when Netflix is navigating a shifting financial and strategic landscape in the global entertainment industry.
The streaming giant recently secured $2.8 billion in additional cash after receiving a breakup fee from Paramount Skydance following its withdrawal from a deal involving Warner Bros. Discovery.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Netflix co chief executive Ted Sarandos explained that the company had evaluated multiple scenarios during the negotiations but chose not to match the competing offer once it learned that a higher bid had been submitted.
Netflix had capped its offer at $27.75 per share and ultimately stepped back rather than pursue Paramount’s $111 billion acquisition deal, which included a personal guarantee.
Sarandos also cautioned that the financing structure behind the Paramount Skydance transaction could have ripple effects across the entertainment industry.
According to him, the debt heavy deal could trigger significant cost cutting, with David Ellison, chief executive of Paramount Skydance, expected to eliminate about $16 billion in costs and potentially cut thousands of jobs as part of the integration process.
For Netflix, the current restructuring appears to be part of a broader attempt to streamline operations while continuing to invest in product, technology and global content even as the streaming industry enters a new phase of consolidation and financial discipline.
