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DirecTV merger deal with Dish Network on the cards
MUMBAI: DirecTV CEO Michael White gave investors a reason to stick with the company after the results didn‘t reflect positive results. He signaled in a call with analysts that he‘d be receptive to the idea of a merger with Dish Network.
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“I don‘t think it‘s productive for me to speculate what regulators may or may not do, but the competitive landscape is very different than it was 10 years ago” when the FCC rejected a Dish-DirecTV merger plan, he said. For one thing, “the balance [of power] between content distributors and providers is out of whack.” He has long charged that programmers are demanding dangerously high new fees for their content – a position he reiterated today. “I‘ve seen more customer complaints about the price increases,” he says.
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“My own view is that it‘s not going to change in the short term. But it‘s clear that this isn‘t sustainable beyond the next couple of years. Something is going to have to give.” He adds that Liberty Media‘s John Malone, who wants cable and satellite companies to consolidate to help them fight programmers, “is 100% correct. Scale matters.” So does technology, especially as DirecTV considers strategies to avoid paying high retransmission consent fees to broadcasters. It has considered offering customers antennas to receive local signals for free. In addition, “we looked at what Aereo is doing” with its controversial local TV streaming service that broadcasters say infringes on their copyrights.
A merger between DirecTV and Dish Network would be compelling for both companies that will be worth waiting for even as the fundamentals begin to show the long-awaited signs of erosion.
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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.
