| NEW
DELHI: Star India, the revenue-generating arm of News Corp in Asia, is picking
up the global threads being woven by its parent in the Internet and merchandising
space and reorganizing its workforce accordingly.
An indication to this
effect is the new responsibilities given to Star India executive vice-president
Ajay Vidyasagar who had thus far been looking after the network's marketing and
communication. As part of the changes being
effected at Star India with an eye to tap new revenue generation sources, Vidyasagar
will now be also responsible for the company’s soon-to-be-unveiled new thrusts
in the internet and merchandising space. In his new role, Vidyasagar will be
spearheading Star’s initiatives on the Net, part of which will entail “giving
an Indian skin” to global activities being undertaken by News Corp.
Meanwhile, Satya Ragahvan has moved in as head of marketing
of Star India. Vidyasagar, will however continue holding the
portfolios of marketing and communication.
Star sources said that
activities on the Net and merchandising fronts will hot up in India in fiscal
2007 when some other major initiatives on the programming, marketing and ad sales
side too will be rolled out. Globally, Star’s parent News Corp has
been prowling the Net space aggressively, prompting the likes of advertising wiz
Martin Sorrell to question this haste. News Corp's biggest buy in the space
was of course last year's $580 million acquisition of youth networking website
MySpace.com. | 
