GECs
Come, join Dish: Zee to Star, Sony
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) initiatives have energised mangers of country’s first DTH service, Dish TV, 20 per cent owned by the Subhash Chandra-promoted Zee Telefilms Ltd.
No sooner broadcast regulator issued interconnect regulations today, making it mandatory to make available all channels on a non-discriminatory basis to all platforms, Dish TV invited Star India and Sony Entertainment TV India to join the platform within 30 days.
“Dish TV has already approached Star and Sony for providing their content/channels to its DTH platform. We sincerely hope that in the spirit of (interconnect) regulations, they will respond positively within a period of 30 days, as provided in the notification vied clause 3.6 of the regulation,” Essel Group vice-chairman Jawahar Goel said today.
Essel Group is the omnibus entity under which Chandra carries out his various business ventures.
Asked by indiantelevision.com whether Dish TV expects Star and Sony to be overtly co-operative, Goel hinted that legal recourse would be taken if regulations were not followed by others.
“It’s too early to say, but in the worst case scenario, we would have no other option, but to move TDSAT (industry disputes redressal tribunal),” Goel explained.
Indian pubcaster Doordarshan and Zee Telefilms have been in the forefront, lobbying for a must-provide regime, which would make their DTH services that much more attractive. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is slated to inaugurate DD’s DTH service on 16 December.
Contacted by indiantelevision.com, Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea, who is away to Hong Kong, said over phone that Dish TV’s request is an old one and Star would study Trai recommendations further before taking a stand on the issue. SET India chief executive officer Kunal Dasgupta had this to offer, “If it is non-discriminatory, there is no problem.”
Hailing the Trai initiative as a revolutionary one, Goel said that the regulator has rightfully recognised the need for a ‘must provide’ regime and this regulation would “promote competition in the broadcasting and distribution sector and shall provide a genuine choice to the consumers.”
According to clause 3.2 of the Trai notification, every broadcaster shall provide on request signals of its TV Channels on nondiscriminatory terms to all distributors of TV channels, which may include, but be not limited to a cable operator, director to home operator, multi system operators, head end in the sky operator. On request, multi system operators shall re-transmit signals received from a broadcaster on a nondiscriminatory basis to cable operators.
In its interconnect regulations, Trai has stated, “In India, competition for delivery of TV channels is not only to be promoted within the cable industry, but also from distributors of TV channels using other media like DTH and headends in the sky. It is important that all these distribution platforms are promoted so that they provide consumers with choice.”
“The DTH services have to compete with Cable TV. If a popular content is available on cable TV and not on the DTH platform, then it would not be able to effectively give competition to the cable networks. Moreover if a popular content is available on the cable network and is not available on the DTH platform, it would never be able to give an effective alternative to the cable services. Competition between cable and DTH will be enhanced if all the content is available on both platforms.”
Essel Group promoted Dish TV is India’s first DTH service provider offering close to 100 television channels spread across different genres of programming. Dish TV started operations in October, 2003 and claims approximately 170,000 subscribers across India.
GECs
ZEEL overhauls sales structure to chase growth across TV and digital platforms
New structure sharpens digital push as viewing habits fragment fast
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. is reshuffling its sales playbook as it looks to keep pace with a fast-changing media landscape, where audiences are scattered, screens are multiplying and advertisers are following the data.
According to media reports, the rejig is anchored in the company’s push to build a more integrated, data-led monetisation engine, one that can straddle both traditional television and fast-growing digital platforms with equal ease.
At the heart of the move is a reworked sales architecture designed to deliver cross-platform solutions. With connected TV gaining ground and digital consumption surging, ZEEL is aligning its teams to move quicker, think broader and sell smarter.
The restructuring is being led by chief operating officer, advertisement revenue, Sandeep Mehrotra, at a time when the company says it is seeing tremendous growth. The idea is simple: match the right talent to the right opportunity in a market that is anything but static.
As part of the overhaul, several long-serving executives have been elevated to chief sales officer roles across regions and content clusters. Sanjoy Chatterjee will head the east market, while Gunjarav Nayak takes charge of the west along with high-margin verticals such as hmg, brand works, intellectual properties and digital sales. Rajnish Gupta will oversee bengaluru and chennai markets alongside the kannada and tamil clusters.
In other key moves, Divjyot Dhanda will lead hyderabad and kochi markets and manage zee tv, zee keralam and the telugu cluster. Roshan Vasu Kotian will supervise a diverse portfolio including Zee Marathi, &tv, Zee Punjabi, Zee Anmol, Big Magic and Zee Biskope.
The company is also strengthening its bench, appointing national sales heads across retail, regional clusters, digital and brand solutions. Ankur Kapila’s appointment to lead digital sales signals a sharper push into a segment that continues to outpace traditional formats.
Behind the scenes, dedicated strategy and operations roles have been carved out for both linear and digital businesses. Nitin Shetty, Rajkiran Shrivastav and Priya Nambiar will take on key responsibilities to ensure the new structure runs with precision.
The broader aim is clear. ZEEL wants a bigger slice of advertising budgets that are steadily drifting towards digital and connected TV ecosystems. By integrating its offerings, the company hopes to deepen client relationships while unlocking new revenue streams.
The new structure takes effect immediately, with Mehrotra continuing to report to chief executive officer Punit Goenka and steer the company’s advertising revenue strategy. Senior executive Laxmi Shetty will support the transition, with her revised role expected to be announced soon.
In a market where content is everywhere but attention is scarce, ZEEL’s latest move is less about rearranging the org chart and more about staying in the game.
