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Digitisation in Kolkata gets Mamata Banerjee nod
MUMBAI: This piece of news would certainly be music to the ears of Manish Tewari, the newly-appointed Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister. The West Bengal government has turned around and extended its support to the switch over of cable TV services to digital from analogue.
The state government plans to aggressively drive implementation of digitisation in the eastern metropolis by asking multi-system operators (MSOs) to switch off analogue signals to TV homes after the Diwali festival.
“The West Bengal government held meetings with MSOs individually to take stock of the situation in Kolkata. Firhad Hakim (Urban Development Minister) spoke separately to MSOs. The state government will shortly make an announcement about switching-off signals to analogue homes,” Siti Cable Kolkata Director Suresh Sethia told Indiantelevision.com.
With the Durga puja festival over, the West Bengal government is now willing to crack the whip after Diwali to make consumers adopt digital cable television, said industry officials who did not want to be named.
The state government is expected to make an announcement in next few days so that customers also become serious about buying boxes. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Bannerjee‘s public statements allowing analogue cable to run alongside digital cable had created uncertainty but the unexpected change of stance has provided a big boost to total implementation of the first phase of digitisation in the four metros.
The state government, which had given clear instructions to MSOs not to switch off signals to analogue homes, has now decided to accelerate the process of digitisation. Industry officials say an estimated 50-60 per cent cable TV homes in Kolkata have been digitised so far.
Siti Cable‘s Sethia said the state government wanted a smooth transition to digitisation and avoid chaos and breakdown of law and order in the city. “Everybody wants digitisation but it has to be a smooth process. The reason why the state government allowed signals to analogue homes because they wanted to avoid a (worsening) law and order situation,” Sethia averred.
As a precursor to an announcement by the state government, the MSOs in Kolkata have decided to go in for a genre-wise switch-off of analogue signals, which was done in Mumbai and Delhi before the digitisation deadline of 1 November.
“All the MSOs in Kolkata have decided to switch-off channels genre wise. A decision on the dates will be taken in the next few days,” a top executive with another MSO said.
According to information available with Indiantelevision.com Gujarat Telelinks Pvt Ltd (GTPL), in which Hathway Cable & Datacom holds 50 per cent stake, has already begun the genre wise switch-off in Kolkata starting with English movie channels. GTPL has a presence in Kolkata through 51 per cent acquistion in Kolkata Cable and Broadband Pariseva.
The MSOs have in principle also agreed to the state government‘s request to come out with a special package for consumers from below poverty line (BPL) category. “The state government had requested MSOs to subsidise STBs for people from BPL category. They had also told us to prepare special package for BPL customers so we will come out with special package for them,” Sethia said.
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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.
