GECs
Discovery US, Intl undergoes corporate retructuring
MUMBAI: After taking over the reins of US broadcaster Discovery earlier this year its CEO David Zaslav is ringing in the changes at the senior management level.
Some key people will leave. They are Discovery US president Billy Campbell. Discovery international president Dawn McCall, Animal Planet president and GM Maureen Smith, The Learning Channel president David Abraham and senior executive VP human resources Pandit Wright.
Campbell and Smith’s positions have been eliminated. Media reports state that Animal Planet will now be consolidated with Discovery’s other family-centric networks under the heading Animal Planet Media and Discovery Kids Media, That group will be led by Marjorie Kaplan, who is being promoted to president and gm of the new unit. She was earlier Discovery Kids GM.
The bad news does not stop there. Reports add that broader layoffs are expected. Zaslav had said that if the broadcaster is to invest more in new media and business, then it has to invest less in infrastructure. Therefore he is taking a long look at the firm’s traditional cost basis.
Discovery has hired Joel Berman, former president of CBS Paramount Worldwide Television, and Tom Wolzien, a veteran media analyst as consultants. Reports add that the shakup is a sign that companies are having to adjust in the face of the advent of digital media.
Zaslav in a staff memo says that the focus is to create a lean and aggressive organization that fosters a real performance culture. “The objective is to push authority and accountability down across the company.”
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.
