The Airtel Xstream Box that was first launched back in 2019 has just received a price cut in India. Now, the company has cut down the price of the Xstream Box in the country and is even pairing with another attractive offer as well.

As of right now, the Indian telecom giant has slashed the cost of the Xstream Box by 499 INR (roughly 7 US Dollars), bringing its price tag down to 2,000 INR (roughly 26 US Dollars). The new pricing is only available to customers that are purchasing a new Airtel Digital TV connection along with the Xstream Box option through the company’s official website and authorized dealers. At the moment, it appears to be available only for a limited period of time.

For those unaware, the Xstream Box was previously available in the region for 2,499 INR (roughly 33 US Dollars). It arrived with support for various OTT services, including the likes of Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, SonyLIV, Eros Now, Hungama, and others. But now, sources close the matter (Via MySmartPrice) have stated that the updated price package also includes a one year Disney+ Hotstar subscription, along with three months of Amazon Prime Video, SonyLIV, Eron Now, and Hungama as well.

Talking about the product itself, the Airtel Xstream Box runs on the Android TV OS, which is based on the Android 9 Pie operating system. In other words, it also has access to Google’s Play Store and a number of other apps. Apart from OTT services, the box also supports traditional DTH services as well. So, customers also have to note that they are required to also maintain their Airtel DTH account recharged.

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Russia continues its campaign against tech giant firms. Now, the Russian government is targetting online video/movie streaming services like Netflix, which are required to include state backed TV channels on their platforms.

According to The Moscow Times (Via 9To5Mac), the nation’s communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, has just announced that it will mandate foreign streaming services to also offer 20 local federal television channels to their userbase. This regulation was first introduced back in late 2020 and is set to take effect starting from March 2022. So now, out of the 20 Russian government run channels, Netflix and other streaming services will also broadcast the nation’s flagship “Channel One,” alongside the Orthodox church channel “Spas”, and more.

Furthermore, the government also seeks to have its streaming service providers abide by local regulations and laws. In other words, these companies are not allowed to showcase movies that promote “extremism” or even LGBTQIA+ related content. Roskomnadzor even added that the laws also apply to all of these streaming services that regularly bring in more than 100,000 users daily. So, we can expect the changes to impact the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video among others.

The latest move from the government is also in line with its efforts to rein in tech giants. It had previously attempted to restrict the operations of foreign companies like Apple, Facebook, and Google, by requiring them to set up local offices within the country to prevent a possible ban on the firms. The iPhone maker even faced an antitrust case against its App Store, with the government demanding companies to offer third party payments options as well.

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