News Broadcasting
Zee Business Awarded as Best Commodity Channel
MUMBAI: Zee Business part of India’s largest News Network, Zee Media Corporation Limited (formerly Zee News Ltd.) has been honoured by the Commodity Participants Association of India (CPAI) with a prestigious award ‘Best Commodity Programming’ for its contribution to commodity business in a glitterati ceremony in New Delhi. The award is in recognition of Zee Business’s tireless efforts to abreast the common man on the latest developments of the commodity market. Zee Business has been grooming and developing commodity future markets for the past 9 years.
The award felicitated by the CPAI is to honor the efforts undertaken by the channel in providing futuristic trends, headwinds to the viewers. The channel telecasts a half an hour program based on commodities, known as ‘Mandi Live’ daily at 11.30 am and 5.30 pm respectively along with daily six commodity updates.
The program ‘Mandi Live’ has been conceptualized by Zee Business with an aim to provide news, tips and strategy on commodities. However, there are six updates daily which cover entire commodity future & spot market space.
The main focus of ‘Mandi Live’ programming is on ‘how to make money’ while incorporating market recommendations given by various broking houses as well as news updates.
Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Amish Devgan, Editor Output said, “At Zee, we are driven by a strong consumer focus. Mandi Live has been conceptualized to engage viewers with on-going market trends, predictions and analysis. We are honoured to receive this award, for it shows our commitments towards our innovations in making quality programme which has been attracting huge viewership. We are known for quality reporting and this award once again motivates our zeal to work towards improving the quality of program”.
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.
