Cable TV
Streaming media registers double digit growth
MUMBAI: Streaming media will continue to register double-digit growth gains for both audio and video through 2005, according to market forecasts published by AccuStream iMedia Research.
Video streams are driving to top 6 billion accesses this year, while aggregate tuning hours for Internet radio should reach about 140 million aggregate tuning hours per month across all aggregator and network sites by the end of the year.
On the video side, music, news and film are forecast to grow at the highest percentage rates year-over-year through 2005. Sports programming — currently forecast to drop to single-digit growth in 2005 — remains a wild card, because many leagues and brands are moving behind subscription services targeting broadband PC audiences.
While pay broadband streams are now catching up to free or ad supported streams in key content categories, a recovering ad market could tip that two-year trend back toward more sponsored, ad-supported or distributor subsidised content.
The following table represents video streams served by content category from 2000-2005. The figures indicate millions of users.
Research director Paul Palumbo says, “This report has it all. It contains thousands of data points by channel, network, programme, event and channel going back to 1998. Forecasts are based on detailed historical usage patterns, broadband streaming media consumption rates, the adoption of subscription services and audience behaviors inside pay environments.”
The report notes that major media brands are more quickly exploiting their video franchises online (studios, cable TV networks, broadcasters along with their broadband PC and streaming beyond the PC distribution partners).
Larger broadcast brands will continue to dominate key categories of streaming media ratings, along with major online-only brands such as Yahoo, Real Networks, but there is a developing opportunity for new and independent producers with good programming ideas.
The report also notes that the size of the streaming media audience has grown so rapidly over the past three years that hit programmes can and do jump quickly into the top ranks of streaming sites on a monthly basis. More hits will encourage more innovative investment.
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.
