News Broadcasting
‘Kuch Hanse Kuch Phanse’ on Star News this yearend
MUMBAI: Star News in its yearend endeavour has lined up a show titled Kuch Hanse Kuch Phanse, which will encapsulate the year that was, and will examine the hope for the new year. It will be presented in a unique ‘Kavi Sammelan’ style and will primarily be a ‘Haasya’ Kavi Sammelan’.
Kuch Hanse Kuch Phanse will telecast on 31 December at 9 pm.
The news channel has also signed up with a couple of Hindi and Urdu poets of the country for this yearend special. They include: Gopal Das Neeraj, Manik Verma, Dr. Madhu Mohini Upadhyaya, Dr. Alok Puranik, Om Prakash Aditya, Dr. Kunwar Bechain, Dr. Bashir Badra, Rahat Indori, Nawaj Deobandi, Pradeep Choubey, Merruti, Hullad Muradabadi, Guru Saxena and Dr. Ashok Chakradhar.
Amongst the other shows lined up for 31st are Deewar – featuring the most prominent relationship fallouts of 2004; Kiski Khuli Pol and Kiski Khulegi Pol – featuring the best of the trendsetting Pol Khol; Telang ki Tasveer – notable events of 2004 literally ‘drawn out’ in cartoons; and a unique concept in the form of a nationwide viewer poll titled ‘Zero No 1’.
The current affairs front will showcase a special perspective on the year that was, while also offering a prediction on the year that will be. To round off the exciting offerings on the channel, viewers will also have their own say in crowning the ‘unfortunate’ misses of this year.
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.
