News Broadcasting
SET Asia to commence operations in Canada
MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television Asia has entered into a distribution agreement with Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN) Canada, a leader in the provision of South Asian television services in that territory.
According to a statement by Sony Entertainment Television, chief executive officer,Kunal Dasgupta, Sony Entertainment Television Asia (SET Asia) will commence operations in Canada today,
” We are delighted with our partnership with Sony Entertainment Television, an organization that is backed by Sony Pictures Television International, which was earlier known as Columbia TriStar International Television. We expect to tier this impressive channel with our current licensed service, subject to regulatory approval, to offer a compelling package of a South Asian bouquet of channels in Canada,” ATN president and chief executive officer, Shan Chandrasekar is quoted as saying in a press release.
ATN currently owns and operates four South Asian channels and has been awarded licenses for eight more digital channels. Amongst the new licenses one is in collaboration with Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) and the Sports Network (TSN) and the second in collaboration with Vision TV and Radio Nord. ATN is a publicly trading company, quoted on the TSX Venture Exchange as YTN.
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.
