News Broadcasting
GBN, Jagran explore JV for Channel 7
MUMBAI: In what is an indication of the consolidation that might soon happen in the news space in Indian television, two TV news stations are in active talks to explore synergies between themselves.
Global Broadcast Network, owners of English news channel CNN IBN, is in talks with Jagran TV, parent company of Channel7, aimed at making the Hindi news channel a part of the GBN stable through a joint venture.
According to sources close to the negotiations, talks are being held between Jagran TV and GBN for a deal wherein the management of Channel7 would lie with GBN’s promoters through an equal joint venture.
GBN is promoted by a clutch of professionals like Rajdeep Sardesai, Sameer Manchanda and Haresh Chawla along with Television Eighteen promoted by Raghav Bahl.
The talks entail Channel7, which launched in March 2005, becoming a part of the Television Eighteen Group’s bouquet of channels that include CNBC TV18, Awaaz and just-launched English language CNN IBN.
Though the sources pointed out that initial talks might not fructify into a joint venture, the aim is to explore whether existing resources can be combined. Especially when Channel7 is a stand alone news channel in a space that has strong competition from the likes of Aaj Tak, NDTV India, Star News and Zee News.
Information available with Indiantelevision.com indicates that GBN would like to have management and editorial control of Channel7, as well as responsibilities of selling ad space and marketing.
As and when the deal goes through, if at all it finally happens, this could mean that GBN will have to absorb the existing manpower in Channel7, while getting control over the editorial content. The issue of the Channel7 brand name is still being discussed.
At the time of starting, GBN had stated that it was looking at a slew of channels, including those in Indian languages.
Jagran TV director Siddhartha Gupta told indiantelevision.com, “All these reports are baseless rumours. There is nothing of this sort happening.” Still, Jagran Prakashan Limited CFO R K Agarwal said, “We are in talks but nothing has been finalised as yet.”
Television Eighteen, the majority shareholder in GBN, said it’s “against company policy to comment on market speculations.”
Jagran TV, part of the Jagran group that publishes the Dainik Jagran newspaper with over 2 million circulation, has said it invested close to Rs 700 million in the television venture.
However, what can be a stumbling block in the deal going through is the foreign investment component in both Jagran TV and GBN’s major share holder Television Eighteen, which is almost close to the cap stipulated by the government.
Last year Jagran TV offloaded 25.7 per cent equity stake to the Mauritius based New Vernon Bharat Ltd.
Indian government norms for news channels state that channels uplinking from the country cannot have more than 26 per cent foreign investment, which includes foreign financial investors.
Time Warner had inked a co-branding partnership with the TV18 group for the English news channel CNN IBN in 2005, which is publicized as a service of Time Warner and TV 18.
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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.
