News Broadcasting
AXN issues formal apology to I&B ministry
MUMBAI: In response to the ban imposed by the ministry of information & broadcasting on the distribution of allegedly “obscene” content on AXN, the channel has officially apologized to the government.
“We acknowledge that the I&B’s ban of the distribution of AXN in India on 17 January 2007 is based on programmes and advertisements that had been previously exhibited on AXN in India. We understand that the ban imposed by the ministry against AXN is based upon legal procedures contained in India’s Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995,” AXN has admitted.
AXN has issued a formal apology to the government for its alleged violations of Indian content restrictions. The channel has agreed to put in place a significantly improved and more effective system of self-regulation in order to ensure that programmes and advertisements telecast on it “do not create further problems in the future.”
AXN is actively cooperating with the government in order to find a resolution to the current situation, an official release said.
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.
