Cable TV
MIPTV selects 24 finalists for ‘Content 360’ competition
MUMBAI: The world’s audiovisual and digital content market MIPTV featuring MILIA announced the 24 finalists for the inaugural ‘Content 360’ international digital commissioning competition.
Of these finalists, the six winning projects chosen on 6 April, will share €80,000 in development funding.
Sponsored by Vodafone and organized in partnership with the BBC, the Korean Broadcasting Commission (KBC) and the National Film Board of Canada, Content 360 is a new initiative to commission innovative content and interactive applications for mobile and broadband.
Launched on 17 January 2006, the inaugural Content 360 attracted 181 entries from 120 companies and 23 countries. “The number of entries underlines the need to provide development funding for projects which are embracing user demand for new kinds of content and services in a digital, multi-platform world,” notes MILIA director Ted Baracos. “What’s been especially welcome has been the extraordinary quality of the projects, which has made the initial selection of the 24 finalists very hard.”
The finalists are competing in six separate categories :
– Long Tail Content: Navigating the BBC Archive. BBC digital commissioners will choose the project which makes best use of BBC archives on new platforms.
– Animation Projects for Mobile Platforms: The National Film Board of Canada will select an innovative mobile animation project for co-production. The judges will also take into consideration production and distribution business models.
– Web 2.0: Next Generation Collaborative Web Concepts. Blogs, feed readers, social networks, P2P, audio and video podcasting… In the digital world, everyone is a creator and a distributor. The BBC will select the most innovative project in this field.
– DMB -Digital Multimedia Broadcasting: Mobile Content and Applications: This category is designed to reward content innovation specific to mobile TV broadcasting.
– Rich Media-Made for Mobile: The BBC will judge the best proposal for rich media which pushes the boundaries for mobile content experiences.
– Total Mobile & User-Generated Mobile Content: BBC digital commissioners will select the best idea which marries user-generated content with interactivity between the user and the content distributor.
In conjunction with the competition, Content 360 will have a dedicated pavilion within MIPTV featuring MILIA providing networking opportunities and a showcase for the finalists.
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.
