Cable TV
Addressability comes to the forefront
Cable TV addressability has been brought out into the open. Earlier this week, an Andhra Pradesh high court has said that all subscription channels should stop charging cable operators carriage fees for those channels which consumers do not want to subscribe to, according to a report in The Economic Times.
The short injunction was issued by a divisional bench consisting of chief justice Manmohan Singh Liberman and Justice G Raghuram on a public interest petition filed by a consumer S Subbarami Reddy against the I&B ministry, Prasar Bharti and Doordarshan. Reddy has made basic subscription networks such as Star TV, Zee TV, Sony and ESPN-Star TV a party to the case. The court has told subscription TV channels to back off and not collect any money from cable TV ops until the writ petition is settled in court.
The problem with the Indian cable TV industry is that it is mostly disorganised and MSOs have little control over the end subscriber as they have not placed a set top box in his/her home which allows him/her to choose the channels he/she wants and accordingly pay for them. Only in recent times have cable TV ops starting investing in upgrading their networks making their networks return-path ready.
An estimate is that close to Rs 5,000 per subscriber is needed to be invested in cable TV infrastructure to make it addressability-ready. Of course, the subscriber will pay for part of this investment. The key issue is whether he is interested enough to pay for set top box, especially when most of the time he is wary of paying even the Rs 100-200 that he has to pay every month to the cable TV op.
Zee TV has been mulling addressability for a year or so. It has a Rs 25 billion project to place addressible set top boxes in subscribers homes, but has not been able to raise funds for it. There have been few interested buyers for the 10 per cent stake in Siticable it has offered in exchange for the funds it needs.
The TV channels are expected tofight the interim order passed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court. But it’s quite possible it may be used as a landmark judgement – just like the “opening the air waves” order was in 1994 to force the government to be more liberal about broadcasting – to force a hesitant cable TV industry to change.
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.
