News Broadcasting
CNN to broadcast in Korean too
CNN is to begin broadcasting eight of its news and feature programmes in Korean for the first time as part of the global news networks distribution agreement with CSTV.
These programmes will be subtitled in Korean for cable audiences in South Korea starting today, a CNN release states.
The programmes airing in Korean will initially include ‘Larry King Live’, ‘BizAsia’, ‘World Beat’, ‘CNNhotspots’, ‘CNNdotCOM’, ‘ebizasia’, ‘Science and Technology Week’, and ‘Business Unusual’. Yernho Kim, CEO and Chairman of CSTV says: “We are very excited to be able to offer localised versions of CNN’s world quality news and other programmes to Korean audiences. In future, we will continue to expand our localised services to deliver a wider range of CNN’s programmes to a greater audience.”
CSTV Korea (Cable and Satellite TV Korea) signed agreements with Turner International Asia Pacific Inc. (a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner) for exclusive distribution of CNN International to cable system operators in Korea in November 2000. This was a landmark agreement as it meant CNN was the first international news channel to be officially distributed in South Korea.
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.
