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Deutsche Welle joins hand with DD Direct +
MUMBAI: In a bid to strengthen its foothold in India, the German pubcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) has enterted into an agreement with DD Direct+, the pubcaster Prasar Bharti managed direct-to-home service to emit its programmes via a DD satellite transponder in India.
In a statement issued today, DW will be present with DW-TV programmes in English and German, and in future possibly also with radio programmes in English and Hindi or other languages. At present, only the state-financed Doordarshan and one pay platform broadcast via DTH signal, which guarantees a technically brilliant and reliable emission.
“We are very happy to step up our presence in India”, says Deutsche Welle director strategy, marketing and distribution Guido Baumhauer. “This is a great opportunity for DW television. We have excellent contacts with Prasar Bharati, which runs Doordashan, and we are working together on a number of projects. With Doordashan and DW both being public broadcasters, I‘m sure this new cooperation will be a positive experience for all sides.”
The release states that the DD Direct+ reaches far more housholds than pay TV and is expected to be the biggest DTH platform in Asia, which opens up a lot of possibilities for the DW regarding regional broadcasting of its programming. Prasar Bharati CEO K S Sarma, actively supported the German bid for the place on DD Direct+.
“This is due to DW‘s outstanding reputation as an international public broadcaster of high quality”, comments DW general manager Erik Bettermann. “Asia is one of our focus regions. We are happy to expand our market in India, and Doordarshan, as a long-standing player in the Indian media business, is an excellent partner for us.”
The DD DIRECT+ platform carries 33 free-to-air (FTA) channels, including 19 DD channels, 14 private TV channels and 12 All India Radio (AIR) audio channels and is likely to include more channels in the future. The approximate cost of the equipment to view DD channels is around Rs. 1800/- including Set Top Box, LNB and antena.
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Canva acquires animation and AI startups Cavalry and MangoAI
The deals strengthen Canva’s push into enterprise and AI-led design workflows
AUSTRALIA: Global visual communication platform Canva has stepped up its acquisition drive, buying UK-based 2D animation platform Cavalry and US-based AI startup MangoAI to deepen its AI-powered creative stack.
Cavalry, whose tools are used by brands including Amazon, Meta, Google and Netflix, will strengthen Canva’s motion design capabilities. The deal builds on Canva’s 2024 acquisition of Affinity, which has crossed four million downloads since launch. With Cavalry, Canva now counts seven Europe-based acquisitions, underscoring its global expansion strategy.
MangoAI, an early-stage startup focused on video advertising optimisation, will integrate its reinforcement learning systems into Canva AI. The move aims to enable brands to generate personalised marketing content in real time, cutting production cycles while improving campaign performance. MangoAI co-founder Vinith Misra will join Canva as reinforcement learning lead in its research lab.
Canva co-founder and chief operating officer Cliff Obrecht said the acquisitions reflect the company’s ambition to make professional-grade creative tools more accessible without sidelining human creativity. The goal, he said, is to bring everything from vector to motion design into a single, integrated suite.
The company now reports 265 million active users, including 31 million paid subscribers, and $4 billion in annualised revenue, up 36 per cent year on year. The latest buys further position Canva against rivals such as Adobe and Apple’s Creator Studio as it pushes deeper into enterprise workflows.
Canva head of pro design marketing Liam Fisher, said AI is intended to act as a creative assistant rather than a replacement, reinforcing the primacy of craft and individual design judgement.
