Cable TV
BBC World Service shares online journalism expertise with India students
MUMBAI: BBC World Service has announced that the online site of BBC Hindi – bbchindi.com – has joined forces with its online partner Webdunia to conduct online journalism workshops for students in India.
Teams are holding special sessions at universities and schools of journalism in Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. The sessions will provide the students with an insight into how online works, and give them hands-on training in how best to write for web audiences.
At the end of the workshop, the students will be assigned special subjects to write on, and the best three pieces will be published on bbchindi.com. BBChindi.com editor Salma Zaidi said, “I am looking forward to sharing with the budding online journalists the BBC’s editorial standards, which are the backbone of the BBC Hindi journalism. I hope that they will be able to implement these principles of objectivity in their future careers, further raising the benchmark of Hindi-language journalism.”
Webdunia CEO Vinay Chhajlani says, “The universities offer several courses for print and audio-visual journalism but students do not have enough practical knowledge of online journalism. I am sure that this workshop will prove very beneficial in this direction.”
BBC Hindi programmes are produced from studios in London and New Delhi and are set in a rolling format, with news, current affairs and features. The interactive morning and evening programmes, Aaj Ke Din and Aaj Kal, bring the BBC Hindi listeners news, analysis and interviews on a range of issues, from current affairs and careers to showbiz and sports. BBC Hindi is available on shortwave and medium wave radio transmitters and via cable television. Hindi speakers can access BBC Hindi programmes in text and in audio at bbchindi.com.
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.
