In no particular order, here are MediaNama’s top 10 stories of the week ended 3rd September 2017
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Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao writes to Indian govt asking for “urgent intervention”
Reducing Interconnect Usage Charges (IUC) will destabilize the telecom sector, defeat government rural coverage objectives and cause inconvenience to users, Vittorio Colao, Vodafone Group CEO said in a letter to the DoT and Ministry of State for Communication. Read it here
Uber appoints Dara Khosrowshahi as CEO: report
Online cab hailing service Uber has appointed Expedia’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi as its new CEO, reports Recode. Khosrowshahi was in the running for the top job along with Jeff Immelt, chairman of General Electric and Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Read it here
Facebook to ban ads from the pages that share fake news
In its battle against misinformation, Facebook will now ban ads from the pages that repeatedly share fake news. The social media platform said in a blogpost that if pages repeatedly share stories marked as false, these repeat offenders will no longer be allowed to advertise on Facebook. Read it here
Delhi government looks to cap surge pricing for online cab companies
The Delhi government is reportedly looking at capping surge pricing again for online cab aggregators, reports the Economic Times. The publication cited state transport minister Kailash Gahlot who said that the cap will be included the in the City Taxi Scheme 2017. Read it here
MedLife plans to invest $30 million to boost business
MedLife, a Bengaluru-based online pharmacy, is planning to invest $30 million over the next one year to scale up its business. Read it here
Amazon Prime Video signs deal with Turner for Cartoon Network content
Amazon has signed a deal with Turner to stream Cartoon Network shows in India. Shows included in this deal include Ben 10 (Classic), Ben 10: Alien Force, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Ben 10 Omniverse, Grim Adventures of Billy Mandy, Johnny Bravo, Powerpuff Girls (Classic), Kumbh Karan, Roll No. 21 and Dexter’s Laboratory. Read it here
RBI considers rights-based approach for data privacy, instead of consent-based
On the same day when the Supreme Court said that privacy is a fundamental right, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that there is a need to adopt a rights-based approach to privacy while collecting financial data rather than the traditional consent-based approach. Read it here
69% of Domino’s online orders were made via mobile in Q1 FY18
We missed this earlier…Jubilant Foodworks, the company which operates Domino’s Pizza and Dunkin Donuts in India, reported (pdf) that online orders contributed around 51% of delivery sales for the quarter ended June, 2017 (Q1 FY18). Read it here
At Rs 12-15 Lakh, cost of fiction content on digital almost twice that of TV: ALTBalaji
With an increasing focus on original content, input costs for subscription video on demand services are set to rise, Balaji Telefilms has said in its Annual Report, adding that on an average, the cost of 20 to 30 minutes of fiction content on digital can be as high as Rs 12- Rs 15 Lakh (around $18,750-$23,450), which is almost twice of that of TV. Read it here
How Indian video streaming services are approaching pricing
Even as some streaming services boldly go where no VOD provider has gone before, and charge customers cold hard cash, it’s still a race to the bottom. Hotstar has announced a promotional annual pricing of ₹1200 for its Premium subscriptions, which is around half the price of what 12 monthly subscriptions would be. Read it here
