NEW DELHI: Media Content and Communications Services (MCCS), the joint venture company between ABP Ltd and Star Group, has appointed Ashok Venkatramani as CEO.

Venkataramani comes in from Hindustan Unilever Ltd, where he was VP for the skin care division.

MCCS which houses Star News, Star Majha and Star Ananda was operating headless for almost a year after Uday Shankar shifted to Star India as COO (he later became CEO).

MCCS Chairman Aveek Sarkar said, "We are delighted to get Ashok on board MCCS. His remarkable successes in FMCG marketing and business clearly demonstrate that Ashok has an acute sense of the consumer pulse."

Venkatramani said, "Television is an extremely exciting medium for a marketing person, offering as it does the opportunity to connect with the audience directly and at several levels in the same space and moment.

"It allows for more nuanced communication, which is a marketing person's delight. At the same time, with so many channels proliferating, it is a challenging task to keep ahead of the market as MCCS has successfully done, while driving revenues and growing profitably."

Venkatramani has been working for HUL for more than 18 years. He has worked in most parts of the business, in the HUL foods division as well as the home and personal care businesses, in sales, marketing and general management role.