News Broadcasting
ABP News Network CEO Ashok Venkatramani departs
MUMBAI: Even as the week was ending, came another shocking piece of news. Ashok Venkatramani, the CEO of ABP News Network (ANN) had quit and in fact had even served out his notice period with Friday (4 November 2016) being his last day at work.
A hardcore Hindustan Lever professional, Venkatramani was given charge of the network in 2008, when it was a 76:24 per cent joint venture Media Content and Communications Services (MCCS) between West Bengal based print media group ABP and Rupert Murdoch’s Star India. The joint venture launched three channels Star News, Star Ananda, and Star Majha, in the Hindi, Bengali and Marathi news space.
The two parted ways in 2012 as Star India wanted to focus on its entertainment and sports business under CEO Uday Shankar with ABP buying out the Star India stake. The parting agreement included the dropping of the Star name from the channels. Something which many thought would be detrimental for the ABP group in revenue terms.
Venkatramani had the responsibility of overseeing the rebranding of the channels to ABP News, ABP Ananda and ABP Majha. And he did that pretty effectively. Revenues not only stayed put, they also grew. Venkatramani, after some struggle with the ministry of information and broadcasting on getting a licence, also launched ABP Sanjha in July 2014. His efforts were recognized at 2016’s indiantelevision.com News Television (NT) Awards this earlier this year and he was inducted into the NT Awards Hall of Fame.
Venkatramani confirmed his departure to indiantelevision.com, saying that he was leaving for newer challenges. And he confirmed that he was being replaced by Atideb Sarkar (the son of ABP editor in chief Arup Sarkar). Not much is known about where Venkatramani is headed, but his deputy and the company’s COO Avinash Pandey appreciated his efforts in a comment to a media portal. As did the ABP managing director and CEO D. D. Purkayastha.
Venkatramani is currently the president and director on the Board of the News Broadcasters Association of India (NBA) and chairs its HR and sales sub-committees. He is also a former director of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation. Ashok is also a member of the Digitization Task Force appointed by the Indian government.
He is is a B. Tech from Bombay and has done his management post graduation from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and Harvard Business School.
Also Read:
Murdoch set to exit TV news biz in India
Star, ABP announce divorce; Star News to be ABP News
News Broadcasting
Times Network to air JVC Exit Poll across 5 regions on April 29
Four-hour broadcast spans states and Puducherry with data-led analysis
MUMBAI: Times Network is set to roll out what it calls one of its most expansive election programming efforts yet, culminating in the JVC Exit Poll on 29 April, with a multi-hour broadcast spanning key poll-bound regions.
The exit poll will air across Times Now and Times Now Navbharat, beginning at 5pm and 4pm respectively. Co-powered by Vedanta and Jindal Stainless, the programming aims to combine on-ground reportage with data-driven projections across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.
The network has deployed over 50 journalists across these regions, gathering voter sentiment and local insights in the run-up to polling. The effort builds on its ongoing election formats such as Election Yatra and Election Premier League, which have tracked campaign narratives and community-level issues.
In parallel, Times Now Navbharat has focused on constituency-level reporting in West Bengal through its Jan Gan ka Mann series, capturing voter opinions across diverse segments.
The coverage has also featured interviews with prominent political leaders. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala and V D Satheesan have appeared on the network’s election specials. From Tamil Nadu, voices including deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, BJP leader K Annamalai and NTK’s Seeman have also featured in discussions.
On the day of the exit poll, the network’s primetime anchors, including Navika Kumar, Zakka Jacob and Sumit Awasthi, will lead the coverage. They will be joined by a panel of political analysts, psephologists and senior journalists offering real-time insights and interpretation of trends.
The programming will integrate grassroots reportage with analytics from the JVC Exit Poll, aiming to give viewers an early sense of electoral outcomes ahead of the official results on 4 May.
With its combined English and Hindi broadcast reach, Times Network is positioning this effort as a comprehensive look at voter sentiment, blending field reporting, data and debate to decode what could lie ahead when the final mandate is revealed.
