News Broadcasting
V6 challenges suspension; BARC to place facts before court
MUMBAI: V6 News, from the stable of the Telugu channel popular across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, also wants to challenge Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC India) after the latter suspended its ratings review for some weeks along with other two channels on 24 November, 2016.
BARC India, the only television audience measurement body in India, had temporarily suspended the review of viewership of three news channels. BARC communicated to all the broadcasters that ratings for India News, TV9 Telugu and V6 News were suspended owing to suspected mala fide practices.
Media buying and planning (advertising) agencies and brands had reacted strongly or cautiously when it came to commenting on famous yet delinquent channels. Dentsu Aegis chairman Ashish Bhasin had lauded the BARC decision: “It is a bold step taken by BARC to name and shame the mischievous entities.” It sends out a warning message to the channels to behave, and will act as a deterrent for other possible mischief-mongers that could spoil the purity of the currency for a Rs 20000 crore annual TV advertising business in India, Bhasin said.
However, the Bombay High Court on 6 December stayed the suspension of ratings review of India News even as BARC hinted at continuing its crusade. Describing the suspension of India News ratings as ‘arbitrary and illegal’, the court stated that the suspension and subsequent communication to all the subscribers has prima-facie been seen as a reputation-maligning action, a press release from India News stated. India News CEO Varun Kohli said, “India News is a credible news channel in the broadcasting business in the country and has grown consistently in the last four years both in the times of BARC ratings and TAM ratings, the predecessor of BARC.”
Reacting to the judgement, BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta said: “We will continue to act as per our board and government guidelines, with the objective of providing the Indian broadcast industry with an accurate, robust and reliable television audience measurement system.”
Players in the news eco-system meantime saw an overall decline in the ratings, according to BARC week 48. Since the court stay, observers have been wondering whether other two erring and suspended yet holier-than-thou channels would also knock at the doors of the courts of law seeking redressal.
“We have filed a suit against the suspension of V6 review by BARC India,” V6 CEO Ravi Ankam communicated to Indiantelevision.com through the chief technical officer Kishore Kumar late yesterday evening. However, Ankam did not reveal the details, saying the “matter was sub-judice.”
When contacted for its comment on V6 News decision, BARC India was prompt in its curt reply. “We will place the facts in (the) court. At this stage, as the matters are sub-judice, it would not be appropriate for us to say anything more. We are confident of what we are doing,” the ratings body CEO said.
TV9 Telugu shied from reacting or commenting on BARC India action or the court stay. TV9 head of marketing Clifford Pereira passed on the responsibility of speaking to the media to the chief financial officer KVN Murthy. When Indiantelevision.com contacted CFO Murthy, he sought time as he was driving out of town for a private meeting, and then chose not to respond to calls or text messages.
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‘Name and shame delinquent channels’
News Broadcasting
Senior media executive Madhu Soman exits Zee Media
Former Reuters and Bloomberg leader says he leaves with “no regrets” after brief stint at WION and Zee Business
NOIDA: Madhu Soman, a veteran of global newsrooms and media sales floors, has stepped away from Zee Media Corporation after a short stint steering business strategy for WION and Zee Business.
In a reflective LinkedIn note marking his departure, Soman said his time within the network’s corridors was always likely to be brief. “Some chapters close faster than expected,” he wrote, signalling the end of a nearly two-year spell in which he oversaw both editorial partnerships and commercial strategy.
Soman joined Zee Media in 2022 after more than a decade abroad with Reuters and Bloomberg, returning to India to take on the role of chief business officer for WION and Zee Business. His mandate was ambitious: bridge the newsroom and the revenue desk while expanding digital and broadcast reach.
During the stint, Zee Business reached break-even for the first time since its launch in 2005, while WION refreshed programming and strengthened its digital footprint across platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.
But Soman suggested the cultural fit proved uneasy. Describing himself as a “cultural misfit”, he hinted at deeper tensions between editorial instincts shaped in global newsrooms and the realities of India’s television news ecosystem.
Before joining Zee, Soman spent more than seven years at Bloomberg in Hong Kong as head of broadcast sales for Asia-Pacific, expanding the company’s news syndication business across several markets. Earlier, he held senior editorial roles at Reuters, overseeing online strategy in India and managing Reuters Video Services from London.
His career began in television and wire reporting, including a stint with ANI during the 1999 Kargil conflict, before moving into digital publishing as India’s internet media landscape took shape.
Now, after nearly three decades in broadcast and digital media, Soman is leaving Delhi NCR and returning to his hometown, Trivandrum.
Exhausted, he admits. But unbowed. And with one quiet line that sums up the journey: he didn’t sell his soul — because some things, after all, are not for sale.
