News Broadcasting
Intelsat 907 launched aboard Ariane 44L vehicle
WASHINGTON, DC: Intelsat announced today that the Intelsat 907 satellite was successfully launched aboard an Ariane 44L vehicle at 2:00 EST . The satellite is expected to be operational this March.
The Intelsat 907 launch is the seventh in an eight-satellite campaign to replace and to enhance system capacity by the end of 2003. The 907 satellite will be deployed at 332.5?E and will offer capacity for telephony, corporate networks, Internet, video and hybrid space/terrestrial solutions to customers on its 76 C-band and 22 Ku-band transponders (measured in 36 MHz equivalent units).
The satellite will provide high power Ku-band spot beam coverage for Western Europe and West Africa and additional C-band capacity to customers in the Americas, Europe and Africa.
The high power and coverage area of the Intelsat 907 satellite makes it ideal to support corporate VSATs, broadcast content distribution and broadband applications, including high-speed Internet access, multicasting and streaming.
Intelsat CEO Conny Kullman stated:”The successful launch of the Intelsat 907 represents the completion of our IX Series launches. Launching seven satellites in twenty months is a huge accomplishment for Intelsat and for our customers worldwide who are the beneficiaries of the enhanced coverage and increased power of these spacecraft. Moreover, the Intelsat 907 will be located in a prime orbital slot to provide Africa with a robust, ever-expanding video community.”
The Intelsat 907 satellite will replace the Intelsat 605, which currently holds the 332.5?E orbital slot but will be moved to a new location at 330.5?E to support additional customer demand also in the Americas, Europe and Africa.
Intelsat offers telephony, corporate network, video and Internet solutions around the globe via capacity on 26 geosynchronous satellites in prime orbital locations. Customers in approximately 200 countries and territories rely on Intelsat satellites and staff for quality connections, global reach and reliability.
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.
