MUMBAI: In a major reshuffle, Hathway Cable & Datacom has appointed Jagdish Kumar as the new managing director and CEO of the company. He joins with immediate effect.

K Jayaraman, who was occupying this chair, moves to the position of vice chairman.

Kumar will report directly to the Hathway board, sources say.

In his earlier stint, Kumar was the president of Reliance Industries Limited‘s (RIL) media and entertainment business.

Before RIL, Kumar had a 16-year stint at Star India where he was involved in several key initiatives including the media company‘s direct-to-home (DTH) venture and acquisition of regional broadcasting company Asianet.

Incidentally, Kumar was on the board of Hathway Cable & Datacom as a representative from Star. Earlier this year News Corp had exited Hathway by selling its 17.3 per cent stake in Hathway for Rs 3.58 billion.

Kumar was also made Star India chief operating officer when Uday Shankar was made chief executive officer.

In his last assignment at Star, Kumar was given the operational charge of Kannada general entertainment channel Suvarna. This was in addition to his earlier functions as Star India president - South.