News Broadcasting
‘External obligations’ force DirecTV to quit TiVo Board
MUMBAI: DirecTV Group Inc. vice chairman Eddy Hartenstein has stepped down from TiVo Inc.’s board of directors after an eight-month commitment.
The US-based digital video recorder (DVR) maker TiVo gets the bulk of its business from a co-marketing agreement they have with DirecTV, provider of digital television entertainment, broadband satellite networks and services, and global video and data broadcasting.
The general perception being that DVRs like TiVo kill television advertisements, News Corp’s taking over of DirecTV late last year had raised doubts on the future of the TiVo-DirecTV collaboration. So Hartenstein’s membership on the TiVo board was seen as a symbolic gesture solidifying the partnership between TiVo and DirecTV.
DirecTV is quoted in media reports as saying the resignation was part of an effort to reduce “certain external obligations” in order to focus more time on DirecTV.
“We look forward to working with him in the future on new initiatives as we continue to grow our relationship with DirecTV,” said TiVo Chief Executive Mike Ramsay.
While regretting that other obligations prevented him from further fulfilling his duties of a TiVo director, Hartenstein has expressed his interest in continuing the strong business relationship between DirecTV and TiVo.
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.
