News Broadcasting
Times Now brings you the Big action, from the cities
Launches ‘ACTION CITY’ – city centric show With News Now Overnight
Mumbai, May 29, 2006: TIMES NOW, soon after successfully completing 100 days of bringing urbane viewers the ‘Big Story’, announced the launch of ‘Action City’ – the show that covers all the action from the big cities of India. Recognizing the urbane viewers need for a quick catch up on the action of the day, its added ‘Action City’ at 10:30 pm and News Now Overnight 11:00 pm, Monday to Friday only on Times Now. Viewers can now look forward to a fresh new power-packed hour every weekday evening with ‘Action City’- an energetic, slick, high spirited city-centric show giving a daily doze of what’s buzzing in the city; and a classic round-up news bulletin ‘News Now Overnight’- that will empower you with the days’ relevant news.
Speaking on the launch of the show, Sunil Lulla, CEO, TIMES NOW said, “With just over 3 months of being on-air, TIMES NOW presentation of the big stories has made the channel capture quality market share. The success of accurate exit polls, insightful analyses and wide variety of guests during Assembly Elections has made a mark in the News Broadcast Space. The launch of two new shows with City focus and Big Story Focus will give our viewers a fulfilling news experience in the late prime time band.”
Action City – ‘Your city’s barometer!’ tells viewers what’s hot, happening and buzzing in the city and about its people. The show with its fast paced, racy and distinct content will give viewers a closer look at the happenings in their own city. The show has exciting segments like 60 seconds, Action Headlines, Action Nuggets and Entertainment packed – Action E, offering viewers a dose of heady adrenaline-and-testosterone news, all packaged in thirty minutes. The show will be anchored by Ekta Kumar Nagpal.
Speaking on the launch of the show, Arnab Goswami, Editor in Chief said, “With a strong focus on the big story, Times Now brings the action from the big cities adding to the news centric 7 to 11 PM Prime Time band. The show will be relevant to our target audience, making sense of all that is going on around them, bringing them face to face with the news from their environment and reporting on all that matters to them”
News Now Overnight is a classic wrap of the day’s important and significant, big stories that are relevant and will impact the lives of the viewers. The format of the show provides the viewers a complete news experience that are uniquely packaged with slick production values.
The shows will be anchored by Ekta Kumar Nagpal which will go beyond the conventional studio reporting and take the viewers in the city streets and lanes experiencing the news as it is.
So feel the news on your city and watch out for what impacts your life the most…Don’t miss to watch out for Action City and News Now Overnight from Monday, May 22nd from 10.30pm to 11.30pm only on Times Now.
About Times Now
TIMES NOW, a Times Group & Reuters Service is an urbane, 24-hour cutting edge English news channel connecting viewers with news and shows, which are relevant, distinctive, & appealing.
Focused at the Urbanite, TIMES NOW recognizes the varied television viewing habits across day parts and delivers news in relevant and distinctive formats at different times of the day. TIMES NOW weekend shows feature leading personalities from the field of theatre, business, defence and entertainment. The channel builds consumer associations through its various touch points – www.timesnow.tv, mobile and interactive voice response system.
TIMES NOW, a Times Group & Reuters Service, brought to you by Times Global Broadcasting Co. Ltd. is based in Mumbai with studios in Mumbai and Delhi and bureaus across the nation.
The Times Group is the largest media conglomerate in South Asia, with leadership in newspaper publishing; magazines; music; retailing; FM Radio; Internet; Interactive media; mobile services and lifestyle television.
Reuters (www.reuters.com), the global information company, provides indispensable information tailored for professionals in the financial services, media and corporate markets. Its trusted information drives decision making across the globe based on a reputation for speed, accuracy and independence. Reuters has 15,300 staff in 91 countries, including staff from the acquisition of Moneyline Telerate (MLT) in June 2005. It also includes 2,300 editorial staff in 196 bureaus serving 129 countries, making Reuters the world’s largest international multimedia news agency. In the 2004 Annual Report and Form 20-F, Reuters Group revenues were ?2.9 billion.
Reuters and the sphere logo are the trade-marks of the Reuters group of companies
For further enquiries:
Vishakha Singh
TIMES NOW
A Times Group & Reuters Service
Times Global Broadcasting Co. Ltd.
Trade House, 1st Floor,
Kamala Mills Compound,
Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel
Mumbai-400 013
Tel: (+9122) 24990318
www.timesnow.tv
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Genesis Burson Marsteller
1st Flr, Elegant House
Raghuvanshi Mills Compound
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Mumbai-400 013
Website: www.genesispr.com
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.
