News Broadcasting
ESS moves SC challenging HC order to share feed with DD
NEW DELHI: ESPN Star Sports, exclusive telecast rights holder for the ongoing Bangladesh-India series, this morning filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court challenging a directive issued yesterday by the Kerala High Court that it share its feed with national broadcaster Doordarshan.
The case will be heard by a vacation bench of the apex court. No time has been assigned yet for arguments and late evening ESS executives expressed hopes that the court would take up the case tomorrow or at the earliest.
In deference to a high court order passed yesterday, ESPN allowed DD to carry its feed of the first one-dayer between Bangladesh and India today in toto. The next match is scheduled for Saturday.
A two-judge division bench of the Kerala High Court of Chief Justice B Subhashan Reddy and Justice Kurian Joseph, in an interim order, had directed ESS to share revenues at the ratio of 80:20, subject to such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the Supreme Court in pending cases.
However, when contacted by indiantelevision.com this evening, an official of DD pointed out that it is likely to reiterate its demands in the Supreme Court too after joining issues. DD had submitted in the high court earlier that revenue share of 80:20 is not acceptable to it and that such deals should be signed as per precedence and past agreements that had been agreed upon between the two parties.
The DD official pointed out that it had submitted in the high court that a fair deal would comprise Rs 10 million in minimum guarantee per one-dayer (to be paid by ESS to DD) after which a 80:20 advertising revenue share, in
favour of ESS, looked okay.
The high court Bench yesterday had made it clear that Doordarshan should exhibit the logo of ESPN and advertisements, which ESPN has committed for the one-day series.
On Monday, ESS had submitted before the Bench that it holds exclusive right to telecast the India-Bangladesh cricket series and was not willing to share its revenue with Doordarshan for telecasting the three one-dayers.
Senior advocate Rakesh Munchal, representing ESPN, had submitted before the Kerala High Court, that ESS was “not agreeable to revenue sharing.”
ESPN would suffer a “huge financial loss” if asked to share its revenue with Doordarshan in the ratio of 80:20, Munchal had argued. In his submission Munchal had contended that the daily loss to the sports broadcaster would be Rs 100 million if it was forced to share the feed with DD. Therefore the total loss as per ESS’ claims is Rs 300 million for the three ODIs.
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.
