Cable TV
Economical digital headend solution: VideoPropulsion to start shipments for cable TV
MUMBAI: Wisconsin-based VideoPropulsion® Interactive Television, Inc. OTCVPTV and New Delhi-based MultiVirt India Pvt Ltd are now demonstrating a new, low-cost headend system for Local Cable television Operators (LCOs) in India.
MultiVirt India as a company was established in 1995 to cater to the growing markets of broadcast, cable and multimedia in India. MultiVirt’s core competency has been consultancy, systems integration and turnkey project execution for broadcast, Cable and OTT, mobile and web-media. VideoPropulsion has been a world leader in hardware and software for high performance, low cost per stream, digital content manipulation, and has established a reputation for providing unique HDTV, VoD, and IPTV products.
The two companies announced their collaboration early in 2015, and are now ready to deliver an inexpensive, innovative digital headend solution tailored specifically for the Indian digital CATV market.
The partners’ premier offering is a MultiVirt integrated headend appliance capable of selectively receiving up to 200 channels of Free to Air (FTA) programming via DVB-S2 satellite, and then re-modulating the programs over QAM on a COAX network to DVB-C Set Top Boxes (STB). The single 4U chassis employs VideoPropulsion’s preeminent, high-density DVB-C QAM modulator (ITU-T J.83 Annex A) PCIe cards.
The system has been designed for the LCO to optionally merge up to 40 of its own local programs into the COAX cable plant multiplex via an ethernet port on the appliance. The locally supplied content is encoded into MPEG2 or H.264, then transmitted to the VideoPropulsion QAM where it is combined with up to 200 FTA channels for delivery over the cable network to the subscribers’ STBs. This makes for a very affordable 240 Channel headend, ideal for small, remote operators.
Additional options and upgrades include the ability to do hardware transcodes of any of the programs to or from MPEG2 or H.264, as well as the ability to encrypt any of the programs using a variety of conditional access schemes such as Conax, Novel-SuperTV, Cryptoguard, Irdeto, and others.
“Our new VPro-S Headend represents an exciting new opportunity for us to provide a large segment of CATV markets in India with a powerful and affordable solution,” said MultiVirt founder & director Rakesh Gupta. “We are gratified to offer this high-density, low-priced product in support of the final phases of the digitation of television services in India.” VideoPropulsion and Multipart will demonstrate the Vpro-S Headend on Booth E12 Hall12A at Convergence India 2017 (8-10 February) in New Delhi.
“Our ongoing partnership with MultiVirt showcases our ability to solve large-scale digital television problems quickly and cost-effectively,” said VideoPropulsion founder, chairman and chief scientist Carl Pick. “We are delighted to participate in India’s ambitious future.”
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.
