Cable TV
Time Warner CEO rates India ahead of China
MUMBAI: India suddenly seems to have emerged as the preferred destination over China for the media bigwigs. Soon after News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch expressed discontent over China’s FDI policy, Time Warner Inc. chairman and chief executive officer Richard Parsons echoed the same sentiment.
According to Parsons, India as a television market offers better immediate growth prospects for his firm than China. Speaking to the Press at a luncheon with the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, he said India has stronger rule of law and less censorship.
Parsons complimented the country’s advancements in infrastructure and technology to distribute media content, saying it has set the stage for Time Warner Inc. to build a significant presence quickly.
“China is a very tough market for a media and entertainment company, because of some fundamental things such as rule of law. It’s hard to make long-term investments, long-term deals if you don’t exactly know what the playing field is going to look like,” Parsons has been quoted as saying. “By contrast, India has a stronger rule of law culture and it doesn’t censor as much,” he said.
Time Warner’s media empire includes Warner Bros., the Time Inc. group of magazines, HBO, CNN, AOL and Time Warner Cable, among which HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network and Pogo are present in the Indian market.
Rupert Murdoch had put big bet on China, a market which he fancied would soon take over as the fastest-growing in the world with its sheer size of eyeballs. But the Chinese government’s decision in July this year to tighten control of foreign participation in the local TV industry had affected Murdoch’s plans to step up further investments in the country.
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.
