Cable TV
MSN revamps India portal; adds 4 new channels, extra features
MUMBAI: Portal MSN India is celebrating six years in the country. On this occasion it has launched a new home page with four channels – lifestyle, entertainment, news and sports. It has also added new feature rich services — Windows Live Domains, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Search.
MSN country head Jaspreet Bindra says that the home page has a more vibrant and friendly user interface. The graphics have been improved upon. “As part of our six-year celebration, MSN India decided to give our users something to celebrate about as well. We now have a new cool and exciting home page. In addition to this, we bring in four new improved channels that offer users the best insight on Entertainment, News, Sports and Lifestyle. We have also decided to launch a whole new range of Windows Live products for the users in India,” he says.
The entertainment section has news on Bollywood, Hollywood and South Indian movies. There are also reviews of movies currently running in theatres as well as music reviews.
The sports channel covers all the latest happenings in sport from cricket to football and tennis. There is also a news in pics section. There is also a player search section. This allows a user to search for sites featuring sporting icons.
The lifestyle section offers information on fashion, health and fitness. It also provides tit bits on how to carry yourself at work and how to improve one’s relationship.
The fourth channel, which is the news and business channel, offers updates on news from acros the globe. There are also polls where users can make their voices be heard. It will of course also cover the ups and downs of the stock market.
MSN is also looking to generate content of its own. For this purpose it has hired a team of writers. It is also looking to get pieces written by experts in different fields. This should be up in about two months time. This will consist of opinions and viewpoints on a variety of topics.
MSN is also hoping to get user generated content. So someone who writes for fun for instance can write a story on an actor. If it gets enough reads then the editorial team can decide to give it a push on the site. It could become one of the main stories in the entertainment section. In addition MSN India is also looking at syndicated content deals.
MSN India has also launched Windows Live Messenger. This is the next generation of MSN messenger and goes beyond text and helps people connect wiith voice, video etc. MSN India has also introduced Live Search. There is a new design, more search categories and also people customise their search results by preferences. For instance one can decide if one wants 10 results in a page or 100.
Another feature is MSN Live Domains. new users can create domain names and then create an unlimited ammount of free email accounts. Everyone on the user’s domain gets a hotmail account which can be upgraded to Windows live Mail beta for free. The email addresses on the domain is a passport ID and can be used to access services like instant messenger.
Speaking on Windows Live Domains, MSN India and Windows Live head of programming Krishna Prasad said, “With MSN’s anniversary celebrations we are also gifting to our users a chance to get their preferred email ids. This email id would be a customised mail id, supported by Windows Live Mail and which also gives the users access to the Windows Live network. All in all, we want to enhance the user experience as best we can.”
Then there is MSN Live Spaces. This is the next generation of MSN’s blogging service. Users can manage their settings so that they can control who is in their social network and who views their site.
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.
