Cable TV
Comcast & Cartoon Network team up on new voice remote searches
MUMBAI: Speech recognition technology is more popular than ever and in the past few months alone with related announcements from Amazon, Apple, and Google.
Comcast launched the cable industry’s first voice controlled TV remote earlier this year and the response has been terrific with nearly 1.5 million homes now having one. What’s more Comcast is distributing about 70,000 new remotes each week.
“Users are speaking aloud to find titles, channels, actors and actresses as well as to record, tune, fast forward and rewind. Last month alone, there were 20 million voice commands made using our new remote.
We’ve added some fun features too: quoting certain movies gets you to the film just as fast as a title search, Taylor Swift talks back when you search for her songs, and our remote happens to speak perfect Minionese,” said Comcast Cable executive director, product management Jeanine Heck.
Now Comcast has added another interactive component in partnership with the Cartoon Network, which will be especially entertaining for kids.
“It turns out that one of our most ‘voice-searched’ titles is Teen Titans Go!, a Cartoon Network fan favorite. Now, just by saying ‘Hello Beast Boy’ or ‘Boy Wonder,’ viewers are taken to the show’s homepage on X1 and will hear a special audio greeting from one of the characters. They also can say the names of other Titans like Cyborg, Robin and Raven and hear responses unique to each character,” Heck added.
Comcast is planning add more new functions to its voice remote over time.
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.
