News Broadcasting
Study sees four fold growth in DVR use in the US
MUMBAI: One of the major technological innovations sweeping the US television landscape is that of the digital video recorder (DVR). This allows viewers to view a programme later if they are watching another show or are doing something else.
Now a study has stated that the use of DVRs in America is expected to more than quadruple in the next four years.
The Yankee Group, a Boston-based communications research firm has predicted that the number of homes equipped with digital video recorders will grow from seven million at the end of this year to 33.5 million by the end of 2008.
A report in CNN added that Yankee has identified TiVo and Echostar as the dominant manufacturers of the machines. The DVR allows for recording to be done on a hard drive rather than a tape.
Aditya Kishore who wrote the report added that a significant percentage of people with DVRs record most of the television they watch and view it later. This allows them to skip ads.
Yankee has also mentioned NDS, Scientific Atlanta and Motorola as other companies that make DVRs. Yankee made its estimate based on the number of stand-alone digital recorders or those built into television cable boxes or satellite equipment. It did not include the number of PC-based recorders.
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.
