Shankar J swaps Zee for Sony as commercial manager

MUMBAI: Shankar J has moved to Sony Pictures Networks India as commercial manager for the scripted content division, taking charge of commercial operations across Digital-Liv, Hindi GEC and regional channels. The appointment, effective August 2026, caps a 14-year run in television production and commercials that was built almost entirely inside the Zee stable.

Shankar’s most recent stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent nearly four years, latterly as senior manager, content commercials, a title he earned in April 2025 after a promotion from manager. In that role he ran commercial strategy and financial negotiations across a wide channel portfolio, Zee TV, andTV, Zee5, Zee Cinema, Zee Café, Zing, Big Magic, Zee Anmol and Zee Zest, alongside the group’s international channels. His brief covered cost negotiation and budgeting for fiction and non-fiction shows, promos and events, plus cost optimisation on dubbing and subtitling. He also drove content acquisition and rights management, worked with legal and finance teams on Zee Live Events, Zee Theatre and brand-integration deals, and owned MIS reporting and commercial benchmarking.

Before the Zee Entertainment corporate role, Shankar was commercial manager and supervising producer at Zee Studios Jaipur, and earlier held production-management posts at Zee Studio Ltd (formerly Essel Vision Productions), Saaibaba Telefilms and Alumbra Entertainment.

At Sony Pictures Networks India, he will now oversee commercial operations, agreement management and brand integrations for the scripted content business, a mandate that puts him at the sharp end of digital, Hindi GEC and regional programming deals as the broadcaster sharpens its content play.