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Digitisation: Airtel digital, Videocon d2h push free STB offers
MUMBAI: Cable‘s loss could well be DTH‘s gain. With just a day left for the first phase of digitisation in the four metros and growing apprehensions that a large number of homes would go dark due to non-installation of set top boxes (STBs), direct-to-home (DTH) operators have come out with offers to win over cable TV consumers.
Airtel digital TV and Videocon d2h are offering STBs free of cost to consumers in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata as part of their special packages, while Tata Sky’s DTH connection comes with an option to pay for STBs in installments.
Airtel digital TV’s offer includes of a ‘2 year freedom plan‘, which consists of 180 plus channels for two years for Rs 4,800. However, the STB, like in the case of Videocon d2h, would continue to remain the property of the company.
Videocon’s free STB offer is available on annual subscription offer of Rs 3480, which includes Rs 265 as monthly pack price of New Gold Sports pack and Rs 300 towards five months of d2h Cinema (movies on demand) subscription. In South, the New Gold Sports Pack is priced at Rs 2844 annually or Rs 237 per month.
Essel Group-owned Dish TV recently launched a basic channel tier comprising 70 free-to-air (FTA) channels free of cost for life for consumers in the four metro cities. The FTA package free for life is on the condition that subscribers have to recharge its regular package of pay channels at least twice a year.
Tata Sky is allowing customers to pay for STBs in installments, which includes an upfront payment of Rs 400 and Rs 4 per day for the entire year. Customers can get started with Tata Sky by choosing any of the base packs which starts at Rs 155 per month.
According to Tata Sky chief marketing officer Vikram Mehra, the DTH operators have always been aggressive in pricing and digitisation coupled with upcoming Diwali season provides another opportunity to woo customers.
All the three DTH operators are going all out to promote new offers through 360-degree marketing initiative with a thrust on print and out-of-home advertising besides television and digital media.
The DTH operators are hoping to attract cable customers in the four metro cities looking to make the most of the uncertainty that looms. The government has made it clear that it will switch off signals to all analogue cable homes.
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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.
