News Broadcasting
Sony launching Balaji afternoon soap Kuchh Jhuki Palkain
It’s getting rather disconcerting. Ekta Kapoor’s overbearing presence across time bands and channels that is. Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms is about to add another to the ever-growing list with the launch of its afternoon soap Kuchh Jhuki Palkain on Monday 29 April on Sony Entertainment Television.
After the recent launch of the sitcom Kitney Kool Hain Hum on Zee TV, Kapoor is back on familiar turf with Kuchh Jhuki Palkain, an afternoon soap that will be airing on SET Monday to Thursday at 2 pm daily with repeat telecasts at 11 pm.
Kuchh Jhuki Palkain’s time slot of 2 pm means it doesn’t get pitched directly against the top afternoon soap on Hindi entertainment TV today – UTV’s Shagun airing at 2:30 pm on Star Plus.
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.
