News Broadcasting
DD Bharati launches a gamut of programmes
MUMBAI: DD Bharati is set to launch a gamut of programmes on health, children, art and culture from this month.
Featuring in the health band, is a health quiz programme, Khilkhilati Zindagi, a show based on the current health news and solutions with medical and health specialists from reputed hospitals. The show premiered on 2 March 2004 at 8.00 am.
Based on the Superman theme, film star Hema Malini will feature in Kya Tum Mujhse Dosti Karoge which will air on Wednesdays at 7.30 pm, and will also feature Himani Shivpuri, Master Yash Shah and Baby Natalio.
The third, Rang Manch is an episodic show consisting of independent short plays of 30 minutes each is based on world classics, from classical Sanskrit period to contemporary times. This will air Wednesdays at 8.00 pm.
The last of the lot is Cactus Flower, a serial based on a novel written by Sahitya Akademi award winner Nirupama Basrgohain.The serial Cactus Flower as the name suggests, is based on the very nature of the Cactus Flower which blooms in very little water and still survives.
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.
