News Broadcasting
IBN 7, Loksatta partner for BMC election coverage
MUMBAI: IBN 7 will partner with Marathi publication Loksatta to air special programming in the days leading up to the Bombay Municipal Corporation Elections.
The IBN 7 coverage of the BMC elections started on 22 January and will continue till the final vote count on 2 February.
The special programming is based on a comprehensive survey by AC Nielsen which tests and reveals the true mood of the Mumbaikars on the state of their city.
The weekly series will have half-hour episodes culminating in a prime-time special on 2 February from Gateway of India in Mumbai featuring a panel of political representatives.
“Unlike in Delhi, there exists one municipal board across Mumbai city and its suburbs. This makes BMC a very important body and the process of electing its leaders even more so. IBN 7 is therefore dedicated to bringing its viewers the most up-to-date and accurate information regarding the elections including the sentiments of the Mumbaikars,” says, IBN 7 managing editor Ashutosh.
Loksatta group brand head Shankar Rao Shinde added “We at Loksatta are proud to be in partnership with IBN 7 to bring to our readers and viewers an in-depth look at the upcoming BMC polls. We intend to highlight the mood of the Mumbaikars on the state of their city and who they feel is most competent to bring about much-needed infrastructural and civic changes. I am confident that this initiative with IBN 7 will pave the way for a long standing association.”
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.
