News Broadcasting
ZTL likely to get 3 months more for Zee News’ restructuring
NEW DELHI: The Indian government is likely to give the Subhash Chandra-promoted Zee Telefilms an extension of three months, beginning 26 March, 2004, to complete a restructuring of Zee News to comply with the news channels uplinking norms.
Government sources told indiantelevision.com today that Zee Tele had moved an application on 10 March indicating that it would be undertaking a restructuring of Zee News to comply with the rules and regulations.
Keeping their intention in mind and the submission that the whole process would take some time, including various clearances that have to be processed, it has been decided in principle to give Zee News a three-month extension, government sources explained. This is being done as the information and broadcasting ministry would be unable to complete processing the Zee application soon.
In other words, since the government would not be able to process the clearances quickly, considering the present government does not have the mandate to take important policy decisions, an extension to Zee News to be on air comes as a default.
According to guidelines announced by the government last year in March, in the wake of the Star News controversy, which had generated lot of heat in the domestic media industry, any news channel desirous of uplinking from India cannot have more than 26 per cent foreign holding in the news venture.
At the moment, Zee News is an operation under Zee Telefilms, a listed company in which total foreign holding is over 60 per cent. According to informed sources, Zee Telefilms has decided that the news operations, including the assets, would be transferred to Zee Sports, an Indian company that is majority controlled by Indian shareholders. Whether Zee Sports at any given time in future would attract some foreign investment is not known at the moment.
The model that is being followed by Zee Tele is somewhat similar to Star News, where a separate company manages the news operation. In Star News case, it is a joint venture company in which 74 per cent is held by the Kolkata based ABP Group, while the remaining is with Star Group Ltd. Hong Kong.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
