Applications
Comcast launches video streaming On Xfinity TV app for iPad
MUMBAI: US cable major Comcast has announced its Xfinity TV service that enables customers to watch TV programmes and movies On-Demand directly on the iPad either at home or on-the-go.
This new feature is available as part of an updated version of the Xfinity TV app, which is offered for free to Xfinity TV digital customers, and has been downloaded more than one million times since its launch in mid-November. With it, hundreds of TV programs and movies are available for subscribers to stream directly to the iPad.
Content from premium cable networks including HBO, Showtime, Starz, Encore, Cinemax and MoviePlex can be accessed free by Xfinity TV subscribers of those networks with the swipe of a fingertip, in addition to hit programming from TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network and BBC America.
Comcast also plans to bring thousands more choices to the iPad in the weeks and months ahead.
Comcast Interactive Media senior VP, GM Matt Strauss said, “The Xfinity TV app with video streaming is part of our ongoing effort to deliver great entertainment experiences for our customers on all screens and devices. We have an aggressive development plan to introduce even more features in the coming months that enable customers to more richly watch, control, and personalise their entertainment.”
Entertainment available on the iPad includes nearly 3,000 hours of hit TV shows or series like: HBO’s True Blood (every episode from all three seasons), Boardwalk Empire and Big Love; Showtime’s Dexter, Weeds and Californication (every episode from first three seasons plus new episodes from season four); and Starz’s Spartacus: Blood and Sand (season one) and Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (prequel). Top movies in a variety of categories include popular films Alice in Wonderland, 2012, and The Hangover; kids’ movies including G-Force and Monsters vs. Aliens; Oscar winners or nominees including An Education and The Blind Side; plus a variety of romantic comedies, dramas, thrillers and horror films.
The Xfinity TV app is a mobile video player and a TV guide all in one – it also enables customers to easily search and browse through their TV and On-Demand listings, program their DVRs and change TV channels.
Comcast’s development team will continue to enhance the app with many new features and releases planned in the coming months on as many devices as possible.
Comcast adds that the Xfinity TV app is another example of its larger commitment to deliver more choice and control to its customers through its Xfinity services, which include 150,000 online entertainment choices through Xfinity TV as well as other applications that enable customers to programme a DVR from the Internet or a mobile device, and cross-platform features like Caller ID to the TV and PC.
Applications
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.
