iWorld
ZEE5 strengthens its rgional news content; adds Polimer News – tamil nadus most preferred news channel
MUMBAI: ZEE5, India's fastest growing ConTech brand,has strengthened its LIVE TV offering in the news content space by addingTamil Nadu’s most preferred news channel PolimerNews.With this addition, ZEE5’s news portfolio will offer uninterrupted access to state/country specific local news specially curated for all its subscribers across various languages.Having launched its operations in February 2018 with a strong acquired content portfolio and successively strengthening its original content portfolio, ZEE5 has now strongly established its news section too.
Polimer News is an Indian television channel based in Chennai, India. It was launched by Kalyana Sundaram as a local TV station in Salem, which was carried only on subscription providers. It later changed its programming to an entertainment network and expanded its coverage area to the whole State of Tamil Nadu.
Aparna Acharekar, Programming Head, ZEE5 India said,“With this partnership, ZEE5 will open its platform forTamil languageviewers who want to be constantly updated about the latest happenings in and around the globe through Tamil Nadu’smost preferrednews channel, Polimer News. Our association with the channel aligns well with our commitment to making ZEE5 as India’s only multilingual OTT platform as the one-stop destination for digital news consumption anytime, anywhere.”
P V Kalyansundaram, Founder and Owner, Polimer TV said “The increasing growth in the world of OTT has disrupted the information and entertainment industry. We are thrilled and privileged to join hands with ZEE5, as it gives easy access to our viewers to watch content on their smartphones. This partnership helps us to widen our reach among the young audience. Currently, PolimerNews is the leading news network catering to All districts across Tamil Nadu.With this association, we are certain that ZEE5 will have a great opportunity and upsurge in their engagement among Tamilian audience.”
ZEE5 has a wide news library of leading regional channels on the platform such as Doordarshan News, 24 Ghanta and Raj News. Additionally, the platform also gives viewers access to India’s biggest news channel Republic TV, international news channels such as BBC World News, CNN and Chardikla Time TV.
Since its launch,ZEE5 has been focused on bringing a wide range of content to its regional viewers including catch-up TV, Original Content, digital premieres of blockbuster movies and so on. ZEE5 has rolled out around 25 original shows across genres, and the platform is committed to launching 72+ shows by March 2020. It has crossed 70 million+ gross downloads since launch on the Play Store and had 76.4 million global monthly active users globally as of June 2019.
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
