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Comcast in TV Everywhere deal with Scripps
MUMBAI: US cable major Comcast and Scripps Networks Interactive have reached a long-term agreement to expand their relationship in bringing Scripps‘ television networks and their award-winning shows to Comcast‘s Xfinity TV customers throughout the U.S. on more devices.
The multi-year arrangement covers distribution via Comcast‘s linear and on-demand platforms and makes Scripps‘ content available to Xfinity TV customers through online, mobile, and other devices, as well as via Scripps‘ sites and services.
SNI‘s lifestyle networks include HGTV, DIY Network, Food Network, Cooking Channel, Travel Channel and Great American Country, with highly rated shows such as “House Hunters,” “Chopped,” and “Hotel Impossible.”
Comcast executive VP of content acquisition Gregory Rigdon said, “This agreement with Scripps Networks underscores our commitment to TV Everywhere and our desire to use the latest technologies and rapid pace of innovation to deliver the best content to Xfinity TV customers wherever and whenever they want to watch it”.
With the growing consumer use of time shifted and on-demand viewing, the agreement provides for increased distribution of Scripps‘ content through Comcast‘s video-on-demand services. Additionally, the new contract includes the use of Comcast‘s advanced advertising platforms, such as dynamic ad insertion, to support programmers‘ efforts to monetise their content both during the Nielsen measurement window and thereafter.
SNI executive VP of distribution strategy Henry Ahn said, “This agreement benefits our viewers and Comcast customers, making available on multiple platforms – both in home and out of home – our lifestyle programming that viewers are so passionate about.”
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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.
