News Broadcasting
Aaj Tak distribution head Amitabh Srivastava quits
NEW DELHI: Even as the Aroon Purie-controlled TV Today Network hunts for a news director for its two news channels following the departure of Uday Shankar, comes the information that the company’s distribution and network development head Amitabh Srivastava, too, has quit to seek greener pastures.
Amitabh Srivastava – Another one out the door
TV Today sources confirmed that Srivastava put in his papers a few days back. When contacted by indiantelevision.com, Srivastava said, “I have had an enriching experience at TV Today. But now I am looking for a larger role to play in a company and not get restricted to just network development.”
Though Srivastava did not specify his next destination, he admitted that there are “at least three offers” which he is evaluating before taking a final call.
However, broadcast and cable industry sources hinted that the offers that Srivastava is talking about might include those from Zee Telefilms and the Adhikaris-promoted Mumbai-headquartered SAB TV. It has also been indicated that the former TV Today man is looking at expanding his work sphere to marketing too.
Srivastava, who has worked in various media companies, including BBC World’s Indian operation, was part of the core team at TV Today, which helped in launching first Aaj Tak and then its English sibling Headlines Today.
With Srivastava’s departure, TV Today seems to be experiencing another round of desertions not restricted to just to the editorial division. Apart from Srivastava, another senior person to quit TV Today in recent times was news director Uday Shankar, who is headed to take up the editorship of Star News — contrary to reports in a certain section of the media — after taking a short break.
IStill, TV Today’s CMD Aroon Purie brushed aside allegations that the deluge of desertions is linked to the company’s HR policy. Talking to indiantelevision.com, Purie said, “We train people, nurture them, make them a big name and then others take them away by offering fancy packages.”
However, he admitted that, at the moment, the outflow of people from TV Today is higher than the inflow of fresh and new talent. “Where else do you have a situation where there are five to six news channels competing for more or less the same people?” Purie countered.
Pointing out that the TV job market would correct itself sooner than later, Purie added the company would find a replacement for Shankar “very soon.”
“There are some interesting candidates (for the news director’s post) around in the industry and we’ll inform you soon,” he said.
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.
