News Broadcasting
Planetcast adds Desynova to extend its cloud media services and technology offering to boost global expansion
Mumbai: Planetcast Media Services, a broadcast technology and media services provider in India and Southeast Asia, announces that it has strategically invested in Desynova, a cutting-edge, cloud-native Content lifecycle Platform. Desynova’s solutions and services enable Planetcast to strengthen and expand its cloud-based content management capabilities for the global marketplace. Planetcast International will showcase Desynova’s Contido Platform as part of its portfolio of solutions and services on its 2023 NAB Show booth (W1467- West Hall) in Las Vegas, April 15-19.
“Desynova is a perfect addition for Planetcast through providing us with an agile, collaborative, cloud-native technology married to an intuitive UI that makes managing post-production and playout workflows smooth and seamless! While the Contido platform from Desynova broadens our solutions and services portfolio, it also brings marquee new customers and adds a significant boost to our global expansion plans,” said Planetcast Media Services CEO Sanjay Duda. “We welcome all of Desynova’s 120 employees to the Planetcast family and look forward to collaborating with them to provide the most powerful and flexible portfolio of Content Management solutions on the global market today.”
“The Desynova addition enables us to provide solutions and services that perfectly meet customer needs, both now and moving forward,” said Sanjay Duda. “Clearly, almost every media and entertainment company on the planet is moving to a cloud or hybrid-cloud architecture for their media distribution and management infrastructure. Media Asset Management is the pumping heart of media infrastructure; Desynova enables us to meet this evolution by integrating the Contido cloud-based content life cycle platform with other Planetcast solutions, such as playout and OTT delivery, to provide the best ‘full-stack’ solution for all our customers – while also furthering the continued development of AI-driven post-production capabilities, such as AI-assisted editing.”
Contido is a leading-edge, cloud-based content supply chain orchestration solution that simplifies and recalibrates the canvas of media production. It is a cloud-native Media Asset Management (MAM) system designed to handle video processing & publishing across multiple platforms seamlessly. Contido, which is already integrated with Planetcast’s solutions, is built on modules that flexibly work together to provide all the functionality required by broadcasters and content creators, including ingest, asset management, collaborative workflows, analytics, quality control, transcoding, subtitling and distribution.
Contido provides the flexibility to manage content; right from creating, securely distributing, and managing content items. As a platform, Contido allows multiple handles to always communicate and collaborate on projects.
“It’s been a fabulous journey from incorporation in the year 2017 to developing and providing a next-generation cloud content life cycle platform for customers, including Asia’s largest broadcast network and the world’s largest OTT platform,” said Desynova CEO & founder Balu Ramamurthy. “Our ultimate goal has always been to see as many as possible of the world’s leading media and entertainment brands deploying our solutions and services. Desynova’s Contido enables its customers to reach any screen, at any time, with any content from any location in the world — and to maximise consumer value and return on their valuable video assets.
Our new Planetcast relationship will help position Contido as a high-value addition to Planetcast’s existing suite of products and services, thus opening new markets and customers for us and helping accelerate our development roadmap. Through working with Planetcast on a joint customer, our Contido platform is already integrated with Planetcast’s broader solutions portfolio — and most importantly, this experience has convinced us that in Planetcast we have found the perfect partner.”
Planetcast Media Services partner & head Utsav Baijlal added, “We support the exciting strategic investment in Desynova, which broadens Planetcast’s already extensive services and solutions portfolio to further accelerate the company’s global expansion plans.”
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 rolls out Battle for the States ahead of key polls
Multi-format election coverage tracks voter mood across five battleground states
NEW DELHI: CNN-News18 has launched a special election programming initiative titled Battle for the States, as India gears up for high-stakes Assembly elections across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.
Built around the theme ‘Road to Power’, the multi-format coverage aims to follow the entire electoral journey, from campaigning and polling to results and government formation. The network is leaning into on-ground reportage and data-backed storytelling to decode voter sentiment across regions where local issues often shape the narrative.
The programming line-up includes ‘Vote Tracker’, a three-part series developed in collaboration with survey agency Vote Vibe. The show blends survey insights with expert commentary and field reporting, using augmented reality graphics to present complex electoral data such as vote share, seat projections and leadership preferences in a more accessible format. It will air every Monday evening until April 6.
Adding a cultural lens to political reporting is ‘So Saree!’, a ground-driven segment where women anchors travel across constituencies dressed in traditional handwoven sarees from each state. The format uses attire as a storytelling device, highlighting regional identity while capturing grassroots voices.
Meanwhile, ‘Unfiltered Kaapi’ and ‘Chai-Niti’ bring a more conversational tone, drawing inspiration from everyday political discussions in tea stalls and coffee corners. These segments aim to break down key issues through candid, fast-paced exchanges between anchors and reporters, tailored to regional sensibilities.
For viewers seeking deeper insights, the weekend docuseries ‘Reporters Project’ takes a longer view, with correspondents travelling across constituencies to map voter concerns and political shifts on the ground.
“Elections are about people, their aspirations, identities and the issues that matter to them, and every state tells a different story,” said CNN-News18 editorial affairs director Rahul Shivshankar. He added that the initiative focuses on understanding “the sentiment on the ground and what’s driving voter choices”.
Echoing the emphasis on credibility, Network18 CEO – English and business news Smriti Mehra said the network aims to combine on-ground reporting with data-led insights to deliver clear and timely coverage as the elections unfold.
With a mix of data, culture and grassroots reporting, CNN-News18 is positioning Battle for the States as a comprehensive window into one of India’s most closely watched electoral cycles, where every vote carries a story waiting to be told.
