News Broadcasting
Echostar names new president, vice chairman
MUMBAI: US direct-broadcast satellite-television provider EchoStar Communications Corp. has appointed Michael A Neuman as president and chief operating officer, overseeing day-to-day operations.
The company has also appointed board member Carl Vogel as vice chairman. Vogel will focus his efforts on financial and strategic initiatives as a full-time employee of the company.
Neuman, most recently the president of Bell Canada Enterprises subsidiary Bell Mobility, fills a post that had been vacant for more than a year. He led Canada’s leading wireless carrier to its most profitable growth in its 19-year history. He was with Bell Mobility for three years and previously served as president of Bell ExpressVu Satellite Television, WorldLinx Telecommunications and Cerberus Canada, states an official release.
“I am excited about joining the company that has been such an innovator in the pay-TV industry,” Neuman said, “and I look forward to the role I can play in advancing EchoStar’s push into some dynamic new products and services.”
Vogel joined EchoStar’s board of directors in May. Most recently, he was president and chief executive officer of Charter Communications, a Fortune 500 company. Prior to joining Charter, Vogel held various senior executive positions with companies affiliated with Liberty Media Corporation and was responsible for portfolio investments in subscription television, content distribution, broadband, telecommunications and satellite sectors worldwide. He was also chairman and CEO of Primestar and CEO of Star Choice until each company was sold or merged with other satellite operators, the release adds.
Vogel, who was EchoStar’s president from 1994 to 1997, was a key member of the executive team that created DISH Network.
“EchoStar’s combination of energy and entrepreneurialism gives it a unique place in the media industry and I’m thrilled to be back,” said Vogel. “EchoStar has built a significant business and an excellent relationship with its customers, providing a platform and a balance sheet to participate in a number of new opportunities for an expansion of its business that would add value to our customers and shareholders.”
EchoStar Chairman and CEO Charles Ergen said the Company is delighted to acquire the services of both executives at such a competitive time in the industry.
“We are fortunate Carl and Michael have joined the EchoStar team,” said Ergen. “Their knowledge of the industry and managerial talent will strengthen our Company and position it for continued success.”
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.
