Cable TV
150 MSOs get 10 year licence under DAS; 27 denied permission
NEW DELHI: Another 11 multi-system operators (MSOs) all over the country have been granted permanent registration for 10 years to operate the digital addressable system (DAS) during the last two months, thus bringing the total to 153 as compared to 142 by December-end.
Most of these MSOs had been given provisional permission earlier.
The MSOs who have received permission as on 5 March after the last list released of 7 January are:
– Cossco Communications Limited of Shyamnagar for West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura under Phase – I, II, III & IV;
– Netset Media Services of Jamnagar for the state of Gujarat; Satlinks of Pallakad for the state of Kerala;
– Vishwam Cable Network of Porbandar and Suraj Cable Network of Rajkot for Phase II, III and IV in Gujarat;
– Kaizen Digital Services for Karnataka in Phase – II, III and IV except Mysore city;
– Utkal Cable Vision of Orissa for the third and fourth phases pan India;
– SS Cable Network of Balaghat for Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra,Odhisha & Jharkhand under Phase – I,II,III & IV;
– Chelikam Networks of Tirupati for Phase III & Phase IV of Chittur, Kadapa, Ananthpur and Nellore Districts of Andhra Pradesh;
– DDC CATV Network of Delhi for pan India in all phases; and
– Mohit Sai Cable Network of Vizayanagram for Vishakapatanam, Vizayanagaram and Srikakulam District in III and IV phase in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
The list of MSOs, who have been refused permission as on 28 February, has gone up to 27 from 26 with one more MSO being denied permission. Some of those in the cancelled list applied as early as March 2013.
MSO sources, however, said that the approved list was in addition to the 140 whose names had been approved earlier in March last year.
The Ministry website mib.nic.in has listed the areas and the date from which the MSOs have been given permission.
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.
