Cable TV
Mumbai Cable ops continue to do battle with ESPN-Star
The battle between ESPN-Star Sports has entered another phase. On 24 January cable TV operators in cable TV capital Mumbai extended their agitation against basic subscription channels ESPN and Star Sports. That too at a time when India is expected to play a crucial match against Pakistan as part of the one-day series in Australia on 25 January. Cable operators have been protesting the RS 1.51 hike per subscriber to RS 6.50 that ESPN Software management imposed on them to continue to redistribute sports channels Star Sports to subscribers from last week. They had decided to black out the two channels for three days last week. When the three day period expired last week they took a decision to extend the ban indefinitely.
“They are treating us shoddily and at gun point,” says Atul Saraf one of the agitating cable operators. “The contract they have made us sign to renew telecasting the service is pretty tough and one-sided. Hence we have decided to fight.”
This time they have got the support of a BJP politician Kirit Somaiya who has a vested interest in the agitation as people close to him have been switched off by ESPN Software on account of non-payment for the basic subscription channel. Somaiya is taking the fractious cable TV operators as part of a delegation to the information and broadcasting minister Arun Jaitley in Delhi to air their grievances.
The cable ops are also giving the entire issue a foreign invasion slant by saying that the price hikes are being resorted to mainly by multinational channels who are out to make pots of unwarranted money out of lay Indian consumers just because they have rights to cricket which Indian viewers simply cannot do without.
Star Sports says that the price hike was part of the contract that the cable TV ops had signed with the channel. It says it will not bow down to the arm twisting methods of the cable operators. And they will wait it out.
Cable operators say that it sure is going to be a long wait. “We have taken away the ESPN and Star Sports decoders from cable operators who we believe will give in to the bad tactics of ESPN-Star early,” says Saraf. “We are going to fight till the end.” Cable operators involved in the battle in Mumbai include Shri Bhawani, InCablenet, Siticable, Seven Star, Channel III, Five Star, Hathway, accounting for almost all of the city’s cable and satellite homes.
Who will blink first? Cable ops or the two channels? Whoever does will end up benefiting the TV viewer.
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.
