News Broadcasting
FIC hires Indian distribution veteran Rahul Sood
MUMBAI: Former NDTV distribution head Rahul Sood is moving base to Singapore. The highly experienced distribution executive will be joining the 21st Century Fox owned Fox International Channels (FIC) as vice-president of affiliate sales and commercial come 9 December.
He will be responsible for FIC’s sales and channel development of new markets across the region, with emphasis on newly emerging areas. Rahul will also be developing FIC’s sales strategy for commercial establishments such as hotels and other out-of-home opportunities.
In addition, Rahul will focus on the international distribution beyond APAC and the Middle East of FIC’s suite of Chinese channels, which includes SCM, the network’s powerhouse Chinese movies channel. This emphasis underscores FIC’s commitment to the ambitious goal of promoting Chinese-language content beyond Asia and taking the SCM brand global.
Rahul brings over 17 years of leadership experience in various roles in Asia’s TV industry. Prior to joining FIC, he spent 10 years as the head of affiliate sales and network distribution at NDTV, one of India’s leading news networks. Prior to that he held the role of executive director of affiliate sales for south Asia at Turner Broadcasting and was part of the initial core team which established the New Delhi office.
Says Rahul: “It’s a real honour to join a network with such a strong commitment to building great partnerships with affiliates. I look forward to expanding FIC’s distribution network and working closely with existing and new platform partners to build the business together.”
He will be reporting in to executive vice-president of affiliate partnerships and syndication for Asia Pacific and the middle east.
Giving company to Rahul as a new joinee at FIC is Helena Coe who hopped on board at FIC on 18 November as vice-president of syndication based out of Hong Kong.
Helena has been given the task of working with channel and business development teams, as well as country managers to establish region-wide syndication policies and drive the distribution of FIC Asia’s sports, factual and entertainment content rights to multiple platforms. She joins FIC from sports rights marketing agency Sportfive International, where she held the position of managing director of the Hong Kong office, leading activities for Sportfive’s TV rights in Hong Kong, Japan and Korea, and digital rights across Asia Pacific. Helena was also previously vice president of digital media, Asia Pacific at IMG Media.
“Both Helena and Rahul bring a great wealth of experience to FOX International Channels and we are very pleased to welcome them on board,” said Alex Lambeek. “Their appointments serve to demonstrate our commitment to work closely with our affiliate partners to further FIC’s presence across Asia Pacific and the middle east.”
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.
