News Broadcasting
Viacom to reduce director board by two
MUMBAI: Media conglomerate Viacom which owns MTV and Paramount has announced that 15 of its board directors will stand for a re-election at the annual stockholders meet on 19 May.
They will include nine independent directors. Previously there were 17 members. William H. Gray III and Ivan Seidenberg will leave the board in order to focus on other business interests.
Viacom CEO and board chairman Sumner Redstone was quoted in a company release saying, “Bill and Ivan have decided to leave our board in order to focus on other commitments. These include the responsibilities they have as CEOs of The College Fund/UNCF and Verizon respectively, as well as their service on other boards of directors.
“While we will miss their counsel and leadership, their decision gives us the opportunity to further reduce the size of our board as we did last year. Our aim is to move closer to our target size of 14 members.”
Meanwhile a Reuters report has indicated that both Redstone and Viacom president and COO Mel Karmazin saw their salaries rise and bonuses fall in 2003. A proxy statement filed with the US Sec yesterday shows both Redstone and Karmazin receiving salaries of $3.99 million and bonuses of $15 million in 2003. Both had received salaries of $3.63 million and bonuses of $16.5 million in 2002.
Through his company National Amusements, Redstone holds about 71 per cent of the voting interest in Viacom.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
