Cable TV
Digicable files police complaint against Hathway in Mumbai
MUMBAI: Jagjit Singh Kohli is furious. The cable TV industry veteran and promoter of Digicable has reportedly filed a police complaint against Hathway Cable and a distributor Santosh Ankolekar. The police complaint – a copy of which is with indiantelevision.com – names Hathway promoter Viren Raheja, western region in charge and President finance Milind Karnik, an executive Rajendra Rane and Ankolekar as the guilty parties.
JSK – as he is known in the industry – is seeking justice. The reason for him taking such a drastic step is because the latter – who was a distributor of Digicable – did a deal with India’s leading cable TV MSO as part of which he allegedly sold his network to it. Ankolekar, according to Digicable sources – was a small local cable operator with a network of around 1,500 subscribers in the Andheri east area of Mumbai. Ankolekar grew rapidly after his appointment as a distributor by Digicable in 2007. According to the MSO, he was given about 50,000 STBs to seed to local cable operators in the area and convert them to Digicable subscribers, which he did.
“But the network was not really his,” says Kohli. “It was owned by Digicable, and we offered to show the documents to the Hathway management but they were not bothered about facts and continued using our network.”
According to Kohli, Hathway swapped the Digicable boxes for its own and when his team asked them to return them to him, it was not done. “The point is they may have inadvertently made a mistake but then they have to make amends which they are refusing to do,” says Kohli.
Hathway officials deny any wrongdoing. They state that it was Ankolekar who came to the MSO seeking help.
“Digicable had not been able to make payments to broadcasters for quite sometime and his signals were consistently getting switched off,” says a senior Hathway executive. “When he came to us we offered to give him Hathway boxes as we were getting a large territory in the heart of Mumbai. And we would be in a position to provide consistent services to subscribers as our deals with broadcasters are in place.”
The executive states that there was no swapping of boxes or anything of that sort. “Digicable had given the boxes to local cable operators,” says he. “We did too. But we did not take the Digicable boxes back from the LCOs. If the boxes are with the LCOs, then Digicable should take them back from them.”
The MSO stated – at the time of writing – that the company was unaware of Karnik or Viren Raheja being named in the FIR. “We would have got a call from the police station,” says a senior executive. “To the best of our knowledge only Rane and Santosh are named in the FIR and no one else. “
Digicable had earlier had a run-in with Hathway last year when it had alleged that its former CEO Amit Nag had colluded with the latter in “hijacking” its network in Kolkata.
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.
