Cable TV
Cable Positive Pop awards honours MTV
NEW YORK: MTV’s social conscience regarding the Aids menace saw it host a series of concerts, documentaries, specials and fund rasing events across the globe last year. This effort has now been recognised at the second annual Cable Positive POP (Positively Outstanding Programming) awards.
At the show presented by TV Guide in New York last week, MTV was named Network of the Year for most effectively promoting HIV/AIDS awareness, education and prevention through original programming. The award was accepted by President of Entertainment for MTV and VH1 Brian Graden.
At the New York ceremony MTV’s show First National Sex Quiz, won the special programming award while its MTV News Now: Sex, School and Scandal was felicitated in the documentary section. In addition, the channel’s Staying Alive Concert iwon a special Jury POP award, for exceptional original HIV/AIDS-related cable network programming. In collaboration with MTV International, the concert aired on MTV networks around the world on 1 December.
Closer home, for the first time Doordarshan aired an MTV concert which was the MTV Music Summit for AIDS on 15 December. The concert took place at the MMRDA grounds in Mumbai on 1 December. With the DD telecast, the awareness penetrated over 70 million homes. Among the artistes who performed included Alisha, Bombay Vikings, KK, Mehnaz, Shaan.
In addition, the channel also organised a fund raising event on 20 December in Mumbai to help fight mother-to-child HIV transmission in India. Actor Richard Gere had come down and the channel conducted an exclusive interview with him. The channel also sponsored the musical stage at the event
Fight For Your Rights: Protect Yourself is the latest campaign in MTV’s Emmy award- winning Fight For Your Rights pro-social initiative. MTV’s First National Sex Quiz kicked off the Protect Yourself campaign in April 2002 in the US. Almost 15 million viewers tuned in for the special, and over 700,000 young people took the quiz online, spending as much as an hour exploring the resources the quiz provided. The documentary Sex, School and Scandal examined the social forces that led to four people being diagnosed HIV positive after hundreds of those potentially infected were tested in a small, rural community in South Dakota.
Founded in 1992 Cable Positive is a US non-profit organisation with the mission of organising cable’s resources in the fight against AIDS.
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.
