News Broadcasting
Entries open for Animation Super Pitch 2002
Announcing entries open, Asia Animation Super Pitch 2002 has said that for the first time in the region animation content creators will get a chance to reach a panel of at least 10 commissioning editors and broadcasters at the same time this year.
Organised by Asia Image and Canada’s BANFF Television Festival, the session will be moderated by industry veteran Pat Ferns. Five finalists will be given five minutes to pitch their best ideas to the panel of commissioning editors and broadcasters; each pitch will be followed by a five-minute Q&A session. The winning pitch will receive a cash prize towards the programme’s production.
Asia Animation Super Pitch is open to all animation studios and production houses whose primary base is in any of the following countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, North Korea, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, People’s Republic of China, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Only official Asia Image/BANFF Television Festival entry forms will be accepted. An entry fee of $100 entitles three entries but separate forms must be used for each entry. A single entry costs $50.
The last date for receiving entries is 31 October. A pre-selection process will take place between November 1-5 and finalists will be contacted by 15 November.
Those selected must be prepared to pitch projects in person at Asia Animation 2002 on the morning of 5 December, Thursday at the Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa Resort in Singapore. Projects must be pitched in English. All presenters of shortlisted pitches will be offered two complimentary passes, worth $600, to Asia Animation 2002
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.
