News Broadcasting
BBC inks ?100m deal with BT for next-gen broadcast network
MUMBAI: The BBC has inked a seven year deal worth over ?100m with BT to provide its broadcast network, delivering considerable savings and paving the way for future digital innovation. This enables the BBC to move to a new, state-of-the-art network based on internet technologies from April 2017.
The new network will be more efficient, flexible, and better able to support BBC innovation. For example, extra services and capacity can be added for major events, such as a general election or the Olympics, more easily and at a lower cost than with the current system. It will also make it easier for the BBC to work with and explore emerging, data-hungry formats – like Ultra HD (4K), 360-degree content, and others yet to be invented.
The contract with BT is for seven years, with an option for the BBC to extend for a further three. It will save the BBC tens of millions of pounds, making a significant contribution to the BBC’s savings targets, as it capitalises on advances in technology and a competitive procurement to reduce the overall cost.
BBC chief technology officer Matthew Postgate said, “This is an important step towards building an internet-fit BBC and will allow us to provide more interactive and personalised content in the future. At a time when the BBC faces serious financial challenges, it will also save us tens of millions of pounds so we can focus more of our money on the programmes and services for licence fee payers.”
The new network will link all BBC UK sites, including 21 broadcasting centres and local radio stations, as well as connecting to the main overseas bureaux and partners for playout of the BBC’s TV channels. It will carry all video, audio and data traffic, as well as fixed line telephony, ISDN and broadband services.
It will be operated by BT’s global media services operation, BT Media and Broadcast. The selection of BT follows a public procurement under the BBC’s Aurora Programme, which is re-sourcing all of the BBC’s core technology services as the current contract expires in April 2017.
BT Media and Broadcast global vice president Mark Wilson-Dunn added, “We are delighted by the BBC’s decision to choose us as their next generation broadcast network partner. Both of our organisations have a vital part to play in making the best use of advanced technology to support and enable the ever-accelerating evolution of broadcast media.”
The current broadcast network is provided by Vodafone UK through the BBC’s principal technology services provider, Atos. In future, Vodafone will continue to have an important strategic relationship with the BBC, providing a key data centre, telephony services and additional connectivity in London.
Over the coming year, the BBC will be working with both Vodafone and BT to ensure a smooth transition to the new network.
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.
