Harit Nagpal has retired as managing director of Tata Play after a 16-year association with the television distribution company. He will, however, continue to serve on its board of directors, according to a report in storyboard18.com.

Nagpal joined the company in 2010, then known as Tata Sky. Rupert Murdoch’s company had a stake in the joint venture. The stakes and part ownership transitioned to Disney when Murdoch sold major part of his 21st Century Fox assets to it in 2017.

Nagpal steered the DTH company through significant changes in India’s television distribution landscape. During his tenure, the company expanded its subscriber base and established itself as the country’s largest direct-to-home (DTH) operator.

One of the major milestones under his leadership was the company’s rebranding from Tata Sky to Tata Play in 2022, reflecting its ambition to move beyond conventional satellite television services and expand into content aggregation.

The company also diversified its offerings with the launch of Tata Play Binge, an over-the-top (OTT) aggregation service that brings multiple streaming platforms under a single subscription offering.

More recently, it introduced Tata Play Smart, an internet-based television service offering more than 500 live TV channels on compatible smart televisions without the need for a satellite dish or conventional set-top box.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s April-June 2026 performance indicators, the combined active subscriber base of India’s four pay DTH operators stood at 48.56 million at the end of June 2026, down from 56.07 million a year earlier, highlighting the extent of the industry’s ongoing contraction.