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BBC Trust green signals Project Canvas
MUMBAI: The BBC Trust has given its provisional approval to the BBC to participate in the proposed joint venture ‘Project Canvas‘ that is set to bring internet access to TVs via a set-top box.
The joint venture of the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five, plus BT and Carphone Warehouse aims to develop and promote a common standard that would allow viewers with a broadband connection to watch on-demand services on their television sets, such as the BBC iPlayer or the ITV Player and other Internet content and regular linear content.
Set-top boxes with the new software are expected to be available late next year.
The Trust has proposed some conditions on the BBC‘s participation in the venture to secure public value and lessen any adverse impact Project Canvas might have on the wider market, where possible.
There will now be a period of consultation on the provisional conclusions closing on 2 February after which the Trust will reach its final decision.
Said chairman of the Trust‘s strategic approvals committee Diane Coyle, “One of the BBC‘s aims is to bring the benefits of emerging communications technologies to the public. After careful consideration, the Trust has provisionally concluded that Canvas is likely to benefit license fee payers. We believe Canvas could be an important part of the way in which the BBC delivers its services in the future.
“Our provisional conclusions include some conditions on the BBC‘s involvement. These conditions are designed to help secure the public value we identified and to help minimize, where possible, any potential harmful effects on the market. We will now be consulting industry and the public on our provisional conclusions. The last stage of the process will be to consider the responses to that consultation before reaching our final decision.”
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
