Cable TV
NSTPL to use Volicon’s Observer Monitoring Technology to support HITS platform
MUMBAI: Volicon today announced that NSTPL (Noida Software Technology Park Limited), part of India’s Jain TV Group, is using the Volicon Observer® Media Intelligence Platform™ digital video monitoring and logging system to enable efficient, effective compliance and quality of service (QoS) monitoring for over 200 channels being aggregated, processed, and uplinked via the company’s Headend-in-the-Sky (HITS) platform, JAINHITS. This platform, the first of its kind in India, offers cable operators across India a straightforward and cost-effective means of meeting the country’s mandatory shift from analog to addressable digital systems.
“JAINHITS makes it easy and affordable for cable operators to move to digital operations while complying with all legal, regulatory, and content requirements, and the Volicon Observer Media Intelligence Platform plays a critical role in assuring these requirements are met,” said Mr. Rakesh Gupta, Head, JAINHITS. “Using this reliable and highly scalable monitoring system, we can record all of the channels we provide and very easily review and confirm the quality and availability of that content — thus ensuring the highest quality of service to JAINHITS customers across India at all times.”
NSTPL, already an established provider of TV broadcasting, newsgathering, and video up-link services, launched JAINHITS in October 2012 to help cable operators meet the December 2014 digitization deadline set by the Indian Parliament. Through this platform, the company downlinks content from different broadcasters, processes the signals, and uplinks them via satellite for download by its customers and cable operators across India.
The Observer Media Intelligence Platform continuously captures and stores this content, enabling NSTPL to maintain a visual record of the content that has been processed and uplinked. Through an intuitive Web-based interface, the Volicon system also provides easy access both to live streams and recorded media. Monitoring staff and other users at the desktop can thus monitor the content going out to customers or go back days or months to find and provide proof that uplinked content met all appropriate regulations, standards, and quality parameters.
“As a flexible and intuitive solution for monitoring, recording, accessing, and reviewing audio and video, the Observer Media Intelligence Platform serves as a powerful tool for service providers such as NSTPL,” said Gary Learner, Chief Technology Officer at Volicon. “Equipped with the Observer Media Intelligence Platform, the company can assure that its innovative services meet compliance and QoS standards, thus giving cable operators an affordable and worry-free route for providing quality digital services.”
Information about Volicon and the company’s products is available at www.volicon.com.
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.
