Cable TV
VC fund to support ‘Business Baazigar’ winner
MUMBAI: A venture capital (VC) fund with a corpus of Rs 200 million will support the compelling business ideas from contestants of a reality show on Hindi general entertainment channel Zee TV.
Business Baazigar, which will decide the fate of budding entrepreneurs through 24 episodes, will finance the business project of the winner of the show through the VC fund. The extent of funding will be decided by the jury comprising Zee Telefilms chairman Subhash Chandra, Passionfunds CEO Mahesh Murthy and Prof. Anil Gupta of Indian Institute of Management.
“Subhash Chandra has tied up a VC fund, the size of which is Rs 200 million. It is floated by a consortium, but we can’t disclose the promoters. The fund will support the winner of Business Baazigar, the amount of which will be decided by the jury,” said 25 FPS managing director Alankar Jain, the producer of the show.
Will the winner have the power to negotiate with the VCs on the amount of equity it wants to dilute and at what value? “Yes. This will also be shown on the final episode of Business Baazigar,” said Jain.
Can the contestants negotiate with other VCS who will have access to the business ideas as the episodes progress? “There is a lock-in period during which period they can’t start approach other VCS,” Jain said.
The VC fund may also extend seed funding to other contestants apart from the winner. “Based on the viability of the project, the fund may decided to finance some innovative ideas and support it at the seed level,” said Jain.
Business Baazigar will have 50 finalists which will be further scaled down to 20 contestants. They will be put through grueling tasks that will test their business acumen and team spirit.
Audiences will be allowed to SMS their preferences in the final episode so that they can predict the winner. “But there is no voting system and the winner will be decided by the jury,” said Jain.
Business Baazigar debuts on 31 March, airing one-hour episodes on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm.
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.
