News Broadcasting
11 new proposals for uplink permission under process: Jaipal Reddy
NEW DELHI: As of date, 11 new proposals for unlinking from India are under process, the government informed Rajya Sabha on 19 July.
Information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy informed Rajya Sabha that as per the applications, all the proposals involve 100 per cent India equity and that no time frame can be indicated as to when the cases would be finally disposed off by the government.
Interestingly, the updated list of channels seeking uplink permission do not include those from Zee Telefilms (for ZeeBiz, a proposed business news channel) and SAB TV, which has said in the recent past that it would launch a news channel around the last quarter this year.
This can mean two things: either the clearance has been obtained or the plans have been put in the backburner for the time being.
The ones which are seeking government clearance, according to information laid in Rajya Sabha, include Falak TV Ltd’s Falak and Al Hind TV, Twenty First Century News Room Productions Ltd’s CAT TV, Ekonkar TV Pvt. Ltd’s Ekonkar TV, Enter 10 TV Pvt. Ltd’s Enter 10 channel, Shalom Communication Pvt. Ltd’s Shalom TV, Senior Media Ltd’s Senior 1 TV and Telugu Cinema Entertainment Pvt. Ltd’s Telugu Cinema.
Meanwhile, in reply to another question, Reddy also told Rajya Sabha that Prasar Bharati (that manages Doordarshan and AIR) has no proposal to change the format and look of DD News.
“Prasar Bharati has informed that there is no such proposal to convert DD News into an entertainment channel as before,” Reddy informed parliament.
Incidentally, Prasar Bharati board also got a part-time member in RN Bisaria. A selection committee headed by the vice-president of India did the selection of Bisaria.
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.
