News Broadcasting
Star petitions Planning Commission for easing of 20% FDI cap?
The momentum certainly seems to be building. For direct to home (DTH) telecast in India that is. The latest news emanating from the capital indicates that Star India has made a presentation before the Planning Commission seeking an easing on the key stumbling block to DTH take-off in India – the 20 per cent foreign direct investment equity cap in Indian DTH ventures.
The broadcasting industry has long been demanding that the FDI bar be raised to at least 49 per cent.
The as yet unconfirmed news follows close on the heels of reports that the government is weighing a proposal to remove the entry fee and bank guarantee totaling Rs 500 million as well as scaling down the 10 per cent revenue share agreement in its Ku band DTH policy. Presently, companies seeking a DTH licence have to pay an entry fee of Rs 100 million and provide a bank guarantee of Rs 400 million for a 10-year licence period.
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.
