News Broadcasting
Entertainment industry submits its budget wish list to Swaraj
A five-year service tax holiday and waiver of customs duty on broadcast uplinking equipment figured prominently in the entertainment industry’s pre budget pitch to information & broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday.
The delegation comprising Ficci, CII and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) met Swaraj and made a strong representation on several issues that have dogged the industry. Maintaining that the service tax on broadcasting would fetch the government only Rs 1450 million, the representatives asked Swaraj to seek a five-year tax holiday from finance minister Yashwant Sinha. Swaraj is scheduled to meet Sinha on 16 January with the representations. Delegates of the three organizations were unanimous in seeking removal of customs duty on uplinking, downlinking and cinematographic equipment.
A CII release says the chamber has recommended that the customs duties on content creation software like digital camcorders, digital video and tape recorder, digital video tapes and video monitories, which are between 51 and 63 per cent, should be abolished in five years. CII has said that all recorded CDs should be exempted from excise duty and if not possible, a flat rate of Rs 4-5 should be levied. On the issue of piracy, CII has said that an anti-piracy fund should be set up with contributions to such funds be exempted from income tax.
While at it, the industry has also sought the setting up of a Rs 1000-million fund to enable small and medium newspapers easy access to low interest funds. Co-chairman of the Ficci entertainment committee Amit Khanna has said that the delegation also sought the rationalisation of certain direct taxes, including that pertaining to advance tax on films. Among those who attended Monday’s meeting were Aaj Tak CEO G Krishnan, Sahara TV’s Mahesh Prasad, ESPN country head Manu Sawhney, IBF executive director Bhuvan Lal and CII president Sanjiv Goenka.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
