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Hathway selects Dolby Digital Plus as audio codec for HD STBs
MUMBAI: Hathway Cable & Datacom has selected Dolby Digital Plus as the audio codec for its HD set-top boxes. Using Dolby Digital Plus, Hathway HD subscribers will be able to experience the magic of up to 7.1 channels of surround sound, designed to transform the way people can enjoy their favorite sports, movies, and television programmes.
Dolby Digital Plus has been adopted by the world leading TV and set-top box manufacturers, as well as broadcasters and operators, to provide consumers with full digital surround sound and stereo sound in a highly bandwidth-efficient single audio stream solution.
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Talking about the collaboration, Hathway Cable & Datacom managing director & CEO Jagdish Kumar said, “With digitisation, the broadcast industry in India is evolving at a fast pace by delivering better and more enhanced quality of services to consumers. Our association with Dolby is a great opportunity for us to combine the great visual experience with unmatched Dolby Digital Plus surround sound, delivering pulsating cinema-inspired experiences to audiences at home. The collaboration reinforces our commitment to provide the best of in-home entertainment services to Hathway subscribers across 140 cities and towns in India.”
Dolby Digital Plus unlocks the full audio potential of HD broadcast and ensures that consumers hear audio precisely as it was intended. Dolby Laboratories India country manager Pankaj Kedia commented, “Dolby brings superior entertainment experiences through innovative technology. Our collaboration with Hathway, is yet another exciting opportunity for Dolby to bring people a fantastic entertainment experience—their favourite sports, drama, reality TV, and movies—right in their living rooms and movies.”
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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.
