Cable TV
DAS Phase III: Fifth updated list of urban areas shows 100 changes in Karnataka
NEW DELHI: The Government, which had last month issued an updated list of urban areas to be covered during Phase III of the Digital Addressable System (DAS) in West Bengal, today issued a fifth list relating to West Bengal.
Earlier, the list issued on 3 November was related to the urban areas to be covered in seven states and one union territory. That was in addition to the 16 states for which upgradation had been announced on 16 October.
Around 80 towns have been deleted from Karnataka but around 20 have been added or upgraded. This leaves a total of 2,044,940 TV households to be covered in DAS Phase III.
The third updated list had referred to changes in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur and Telangana, and the Union Territory of Daman & Diu.
Earlier in October, the states and union territories where changes were made were: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Punjab, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar, and Puducherry.
The updated list attached on the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s website with regard to these states and UTs also indicates areas that have been deleted and those which have been added, apart from the number of television households to be covered in each case.
The changes have been made on the basis of the list of Urban local Bodies received from Karnataka government.
The list does not contain areas covered in the first two phases.
The list of areas to be covered in Phase III had been issued on 30 April last year.
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.
