News Broadcasting
Crest Animation’s US subsidiary to partner with ME & LGFE for movie
MUMBAI: Crest Animation Studios and its wholly owned US subsidiary RichCrest Animation are getting into an end-to-end production deal valued at around $2 million for an international 3D direct-to-video feature film.
RichCrest has partnered with Mainframe Entertainment (ME) and Lions Gate to create Arthur’s Missing Pal, a film based on the character created by best-selling author Marc Brown. The animation work will be done by Crest Animation Studios in India while RichCrest will be engaged in pre and post production activities.
“It is a very important project for us as we are involved in the end-to-end production process along with our subsidiary RichCrest. Though this is a work-for-hire project, it will be a step towards bigger film ventures. The deal is worth around $2 million,” Crest Animation chief financial officer Vinayak Purohit tells Indiantelevision.com.
Mainframe Entertainment will co-produce the film. It has also acquired international distribution rights for the all-new CG animated direct-to-video film.
IDT Entertainment Sales (IDTeS) will sell international distribution rights for the film on behalf of Mainframe.
RichCrest Animation will produce the film with Mainframe, along with Marc Brown Studios and WGBH Boston. The film will mark the first time that the beloved aardvark will come to life in 3D CG animation. IDTeS will handle international distribution for Mainframe and will launch the property at Mipcom. Lions Gate Family Entertainment will handle US distribution, with a scheduled delivery of spring 2006.
“The opportunity to be working with such high profile names from the mainstream entertainment Industry is a privilege. This falls perfectly in line with Crest’s laid down objective of associating with the best names in the global entertainment industry while moving up the value chain from delivering to television series to Direct to Home Feature, Gaming and Features,” said Crest Animation Studios chief executive officer A K Madhavan.
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.
