MAM
Andhra’s cable operators explore additional revenue streams
BANGALORE: Some of Andhra Pradesh’s cable operators have taken up an innovative business plan to make full use of their customer base.
These cable operators will be channelising their resources to deliver other services including courier, bill payment, ticket booking and delivery of pre-paid cards.
The decision to pursue other revenue streams is perceived as a survival tactic in the wake of competition from Reliance, Tatas with their Optic Fiber Networks and the DTH.
Hyderabad-based Cablenet Courier and Services Pvt. Ltd., the company which initiated the idea, has signed up some of the local cable operators for its courier delivery. The company has also started Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) ticket booking services.
CNC is also going to deliver Pre-Paid cards of all the Telecom companies through the cable operator delivery system. Another area of interest as per a company source is address verification for banks and finance companies.
According to CNC MD P Ramu, the company wants all the local Cable TV operators of the state to evolve as multi-service and multi-product distribution such as door delivery services for FMCG products, insurance services, recharge Pre-Paid and A to Z Services for clients.
CNC claims to have 312 servicing destinations and 75 hub offices across Andhra Pradesh. According to officials, it has already tied up with 200 of the 400 cable operators in Hyderabad. The cable operator does not have to pay any deposits for a franchise. Only an online computer system is a must to keep track of every article. CNC provides the software and training, the cable operator has to arrange to operate the system.
The company charges Rs five for local deliveries, Rs 40 for domestic deliveries and anywhere from Rs 300 to Rs 900 depending upon the zone per 500 gms for international deliveries. Rs Two per delivery is paid to the cable operator.
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Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
