News Broadcasting
ESPN files winding up petition against InCableNet
MUMBAI: First was the shut-off. Now the courts have been drawn into the dispute.
A week after ESPN Star Sports (ESS) cut off signals to Hinduja Group MSO INCableNet over outstanding subscription dues it says have crossed Rs 71 million, it today instituted winding up proceedings in the Bombay High Court.
The petition filed before the court states that despite several service agreements in place, INCableNet had consistently failed to pay up on monthly dues and was in admitted default to the tune of Rs 40 million.
A statement issued by ESS says the Bombay High Court has admitted the petition and listed it for hearing on 29 January, 2004.
In the petition, ESS states that it has entered into various service contract(s) with InCableNet to distribute ESPN and Star Sports channels in Mumbai and other cities, which it services. InCableNet was to pay monthly subscription fees.
However, ESS alleges, InCableNet has failed to make payments towards the subscription fees in accordance with the contract(s). Despite InCableNet’s failure to pay the fees, ESS claims to have kept the services on and made bonafide attempts to persuade InCable to discharge their payment obligations.
The petition ends stating, despite several repeated promises and written commitments, InCableNet has backed out of its promise to pay the admitted sum of over Rs 40 million.
On 10 November, ESS had discontinued the signals of its channels ESPN and Star Sports to IIMCL stating that “IIMCL had failed to pay routine monthly dues, despite repeated collection efforts”.
ESS Software VP, affiliate sales, Sricharan Iyengar had pointed out earlier this month that they had received a letter from IncableNet CFO Srinivas Palakodeti, who had assured to pay them Rs 30.65 million, the outstanding amount then. This letter was dated 27 August 2003, but ESPN has not yet realised the money.
A response on the issue is awaited from InCableNet.
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.
