Applications
Samsung, Verizon release Fios TV app
MUMBAI: Consumer electronics major Samsung Electronics in the US has announced the availability of the Fios TV app on compatible Samsung Smart TVs and Smart Blu-ray players.
The first-of-its-kind app on the Samsung Smart Hub platform lets Verizon’s FiOS TV and Fios Internet subscribers watch 26 live Fios TV channels and more than 20,000 FlexView on-demand movies and TV shows on these TVs and blu-ray players without requiring a set-top box. This furthers both Samsung’s and Verizon’s commitment to developing ways to help consumers enjoy “TV Everywhere.”
Verizon is the first TV provider in the US to offer video content directly through Samsung’s Smart Hub App Store.
Fios subscribers that have either Fios TV or Fios Internet subscriptions can easily download the free Fios TV app on their compatible Samsung Smart devices without requiring a secondary set-top box (STB).
The app will offer access to 26 channels at launch, including CNN, MTV, HBO, TBS, TNT, Food Network and HGTV, based on the subscribers’ current FiOS TV package. The app also offers access to more than 20,000 movie and TV show titles available monthly through FiOS TV’s Flex View, which offers FiOS customers the ability to buy or rent these titles and watch them on the TV, PC or mobile device and now compatible Samsung devices.
Samsung Electronics America VP of content, product solutions Eric Anderson said, “TV Everywhere Applications like this new FiOS TV app push the boundaries of content delivery to meet consumer demand for more control, choice and access to their favourite content. By broadening accessibility through Smart TV applications, Verizon Fios is providing consumers more flexibility for where they want to locate their Samsung Smart TV within their home without the need for a set-top box. This is another example of how Samsung is allowing the consumer to enhance their home entertainment experience.”
Applications
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.
