(31 July 2007 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: NDTV has appointed Saurabh Malhotra as chief operating officer (COO) to head new business areas of NDTV Labs Ltd, the software and technology company. He will report to CEO Rahul Deshpande and the board of directors of NDTV Labs Ltd.

In his new role Malhotra will be responsible in steering new business initiatives comprising infrastructure outsourcing, systems integration in the broadcast space, software/technology development and the retailTV markets, all of which will be run as separate business verticals.

Malhotra has 18 years of experience in sales, marketing and general management and in setting up new businesses in the IT and OA environments. He is equipped with cross-domain knowledge and relationships which will enable penetration in global markets for cutting edge media technology products and services developed by NDTV Labs, states an official release.

Malhotra was earlier Barco Electronics Systems Pvt Ltd director sales and marketing and was instrumental in their growth initiatives in India and neighbouring countries. For ten years in that capacity, he was responsible for incubating it as well as maturing some of their business units in India.

Prior to working at Barco, he held various positions with HCL Ltd, Network Ltd and DCM Data Products Ltd.