News Broadcasting
SET aims for No. 1 perch on subscription revenues
Sony Entertainment Television has set itself an ambitious agenda for the year ahead on the distribution front. By the end of this fiscal, it aims to become the number one network as far as subscription revenues are concerned.
This the brief that Shantonu Aditya, SET’s senior vice-president franchise channels & distribution has before him. Says Aditya: “One of the objectives for the year ahead is to set benchmarks and standards for ourselves. To be the Number 1 network. This doesn’t mean just subscription revenue collections. It includes customer care and the institution of systems and processes which bring a high level of professionalism into the way we function. We are investing a lot in training our people as well in building relationships with our affiliates.”
While Aditya was not willing to offer any revenue targets, SET will at least have to cross what Star India is expected to take in this year at the current network subscription rate of Rs 40.50, which according to industry sources is about Rs 2500 million.
Obviously it helps that SET has bagged the telecast rights to all ICC designated one day international cricket, including the next two cricket World Cups over the next six years which is what will be the pivot on which the drive forward will be executed. Then there is the “quality package” that is the “One Alliance” – what the distribution joint venture between SET and Discovery is called. The JV is identical to the one that Zee Telefilms and Turner India formed last December as far as the stake breakup is concerned. Sony has a 74 per cent stake and Discovery holds 26 per in the JV.
Aditya, who is also president of the Sony Discovery JV, elaborated on the “One Alliance” subscription packages on offer thus:
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.
