News Broadcasting
Sunset+Vine to cover horse racing for BBC
MUMBAI: BBC Sport has announced that it has awarded the contract to produce over 60 hours of horse racing coverage to Sunset+Vine.
The two year contract will see Sunset+Vine producing coverage from Aintree, Ascot, Chepstow, Epsom, Goodwood, Haydock, and Uttoxeter for BBC One and BBC Two. The production of the Grand National, The Derby and Royal Ascot will stay with BBC Sport production.
Sunset+Vine is owned by The Television Corporation. It claims to have a strong track record in live innovative sport production. The company produces Channel 4 Cricket, which has so far won 17 industry awards. It also produces Five’s entire sports coverage. Sunset+Vine also owns Hawk-Eye. The award winning ball-tracking technology now used worldwide for tennis and cricket coverage.
BBC’s general sport head Barbara Slater said, “In the face of fierce competition, Sunset+Vine produced a thoroughly impressive bid. Their commitment to collaborative working, innovation and creativity is second to none and we believe that they are the right partners to work with in continuing the BBC’s high standards of racing coverage.’
The BBC has been reviewing its independent quota as it ensures it meets the statutory obligation to commission at least 25 per cent of its television programmes from independent producers. Putting horse racing out to an independent production company will see BBC Sport substantially increase its contribution to this target. A company release stated that the move will have no impact on the number of hours of horse racing broadcast.
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.
