Cable TV
Allahabad HC accepts Govt’s view to not press on DAS Phase III
NEW DELHI: Taking note of the Government position that “it will not press for requirement of having a set top box as of now,” the Allahabad High Court has put off to 28 January, a petition by the Allahabad Cable TV Operators Welfare Society seeking extension of the deadline of implementation of Phase III of digital addressable system (DAS).
Justice Dilip Gupta and Justice Mukhtar Ahmad in their order said they did not feel the need of any interim order at this stage.
The Court took note of the letter from an under secretary in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry citing that according to legal opinion, the extension order issued by the Bombay High Court was valid for the entire country.
The letter was written to Assistant Solicitor General Chetan Mittal with regard to a similar case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which was then dismissed as infructuous.
Counsel Vivek Singla had told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that “the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India has decided not to press the requirement of having a STB as for now till the decision of the cases, which are pending before various other Honourable High Courts.”
The Ministry had also sent to Mittal a detailed note on the issue, apart from orders by the Hyderabad and Bombay High Courts.
The Bombay High Court had relied on the Supreme Court order in the Kusum Ingots and Allous Ltd case where the apex Court had said that a High Court could give an order similar to that given by other High Courts if the circumstances were similar.
The matter has already been stayed by other High Courts including Sikkim, Odisha, Chhattisgarh for the entire state, and for individual local cable operators in Karnataka and Kerala on the common plea that there was acute shortage in seeding of STBs.
However, Ministry secretary Sunil Arora had told Indiantelevision.com earlier that the Centre would be moving the Supreme Court in this matter. Ministry sources said that the petition in the apex Court was likely to be an appeal against one High Court with an application that all other matters may also be heard simultaneously.
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.
