News Broadcasting
TV Today’s rating upgraded as parent company becomes debt-free
MUMBAI: Credit rating agency CRISIL has upgraded the TV Today Network’s, a subsidiary of Living Media India Limited, long-term bank ratings as the parent company becomes debt-free.
Aroon Purie founded Living Media India Limited (LMIL) had reported a net loss of Rs 6 crore for fiscal 2019, repaid its debt after getting an interim dividend from its arm TV Today Network (TVTN).
According to a press release on BSE, the TV Today Network said: “The rating agency has upgraded its rating on the long-term bank facilities of the company to CRISIL AA/Stable from CRISIL AA-/ Stable.”
LMIL had a debt of Rs 64 crore as of 31 March 2019 and received an interim dividend of Rs 68 crore in November 2019, which helped the company to become debt-free as of 24 December 2019.
Meanwhile, TVTN has also mentioned in its statement that the rating agency has retained the short-term rating of the company at CRISIL A1+.
According to CRISIL, the regular dividend income from TVTN may offset the weak operating performance of the publishing business. It believes LMIL will continue to benefit over the medium term from healthy financial flexibility being the holding company of TVTN
LMIL, a publication house, was founded in 1975. It earns revenue from its own publications (India Today and Business Today). It owns India’s largest magazine distribution network. The Aditya Birla Group acquired a stake in LMIL in July 2012 and currently owns 41.5%.
The India Today group, also founded in 1975, has diverse business interests, including magazines, TV channels such as Aaj Tak, India Today Television, Tez, and Dilli Aaj Tak, it also has a newspaper on its name called Mail Today, a classical music label (Music Today), and book publishing and printing.
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.
