News Broadcasting
2929 Entertainment CEO Wagner in Mipcom’s keynote lineup
MUMBAI: The television event Mipcom, which takes place in Cannes, France in October has added 2929 Entertainment founder and CEO Todd Wagner to its roster of speakers.
He will present the digital media distribution keynote Rethinking Hollywood on 10 October. 30 sessions presenting 100 speakers over four days will cover the key issues for TV and content industry professionals, from the Future of TV Commissioning to the Impact of User-Generated Content on the TV business.
Wagner will share his vision of the future of the Hollywood film industry and discuss how his companies – which include 2929 Productions, Magnolia Pictures/Home Entertainment, Landmark Theatres, HDNet, HDNet Films and HDNet Movies – operate within and outside of the Hollywood system. Wagner’s work includes the collapsing of release windows, a leadership role in the development and roll-out of digital cinema, as well as a slate of critically lauded films such as Good Night and Good Luck and Akeelah and the Bee.
The companies pioneering ‘day-and-date’ release strategy was successfully launched with the release of the Oscar nominated documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room in theatres and on TV on the same day last year and then again with the acclaimed Steven Soderbergh film Bubble earlier this year.
Mipcom’s digital media distribution day will explore these new developments through a series of conferences that will kick off with Todd Wagner’s keynote and will be followed by a Superpanel exploring emerging opportunities for digital distribution business for film and television.
Afternoon sessions will highlight the intricacies of internet movie distribution including business models and presentations from internet TV delivery market leaders.
Mipcom’s Reshaping Media conferences will focus on four key areas of changing TV landscapes, namely Advertising and Programming, Digital Media Distribution, Mobile TV and User-Generated Content and the Impact of Social Networks.
The week will feature 6 top keynotes, including Disney’s Anne Sweeney, MGM’s Harry Sloan, Orange’s Sanjiv Ahuja, NBC Universal’s Beth Comstock, and ESPN’s George Bodenheimer in addition to Todd Wagner.
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.
