Cable TV
Reliance Jio to soft launch with two lakh ‘privileged’ subscribers
MUMBAI: Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm is all set to soft launch its telecom services brand Reliance Jio on 28 December, 2015 by handing out two lakhs cards to hand-picked ‘privileged’ people as a part of the launch.
It may be recalled that Indiantelevision.com was the first to report that Reliance Jio would soft launch on the eve of Dhirubhai Ambani’s birth anniversary (28 December) this year.
Reliance Jio has been running test signals from a month now wherein the company’s employees have also been availing the services.
A senior Reliance Jio official on condition of anonymity told Indiantelevision.com, “We will analyse the performance of our services over the next two months and a consumer base of two lakh is robust enough for that. After thorough analysis, we will do our commercial roll-out by March 2016.”
The official added, “Our price package will be way lower than what is available in the market at this stage. We are entering a market where we want to have the largest number of subscribers and we will do that by providing the best services at the lowest price.”
With a pan India MSO (multi-system operator) license under its belt, Reliance Jio is also in talks with both broadcasters and cable operators for their cable TV services. “By next month we will start signing deals. The technology is already in place and now we will focus on content deals. The work on cable TV front is also progressing at a good pace and by April we plan to start with 20 cities,” informed the official.
Launching in a highly competitive market with multiple players, be it in the telecom or the cable space, it now remains to be seen how Reliance Jio’s pricing and service offerings are a notch above the rest.
Cable TV
Hathway Cable appoints Gurjeev Singh Kapoor as CEO
Leadership change comes as cable TV faces shrinking subscriber base and modest earnings pressure
MUMBAI: Hathway Cable and Datacom has tapped industry veteran Gurjeev Singh Kapoor as chief executive officer, marking a leadership pivot at a time when India’s cable television business is under mounting strain.
Kapoor will take over from Tavinderjit Singh Panesar, who is set to retire in August after a long innings with the company. Panesar, chief executive since 2023, has held multiple leadership roles at Hathway, including his latest stint beginning in 2022.
Kapoor brings more than three decades of experience in media and entertainment. He most recently led distribution at The Walt Disney Company’s Star India business, now part of JioStar. His career spans television distribution and affiliate partnerships, with stints at Sony Pictures Networks India, Discovery Communications and Zee Entertainment.
Panesar, with over three decades in the industry, has worked across strategic planning, distribution and business development in media, broadcasting and manufacturing. His past associations include ESPN Star Sports, Star India, Apollo Tyres and JK Industries.
The transition lands as the cable sector grapples with structural disruption. Traditional operators are losing ground to streaming platforms, while telecom and broadband players tighten the squeeze with bundled offerings.
An EY report estimates India’s pay-TV base could shrink by a further 30 to 40 million households by 2030, taking the total down to 71 to 81 million. The slide follows a loss of nearly 40 million homes between 2018 and 2024, a contraction that has already wiped out more than 37,000 jobs in the local cable operator ecosystem.
Hathway’s numbers reflect the strain. The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 93 crore for FY25, down from Rs 99 crore a year earlier. Revenue inched up to Rs 2,040 crore from Rs 1,981 crore. As of December 2025, it had about 4.7 million cable TV subscribers and roughly 1.02 million broadband users.
Kapoor steps in with a familiar brief but a shrinking playbook. In a market where viewers are cutting cords faster than companies can reinvent them, the new chief executive inherits a business fighting to stay plugged in.
