News Broadcasting
JumpTV signs four more Indian channels
MUMBAI: JumpTV Inc., the global broadcaster of ethnic television over the internet, has signed exclusive internet-broadcast distribution agreements with four Indian television channels specialising in news, current events, politics and entertainment.
Hindi news channel India TV along with Malayalam television channels Kairali TV, People TV and Amrita TV have ‘jumped’ into the bandwagon now. Each channel will be priced at US$9.95 per month when launched commercially and at a later date will likely make up components of an Indian and/or South Asian bundle.
These new contracts that have been signed subsequent to the company’s 30 June 2006 quarter end disclosure. JumpTV now has 209 channels under license, informs an official release.
President and chief executive officer of JumpTV International Kaleil Isaza Tuzman stated, “With more than 15 million people of Indian origin living outside of the sub-continent — more than half of whom live in countries with high-broadband penetration such as the UK, the United States, Canada, the Netherlands and the UAE — we believe there is a massive global market for these channels.”
JumpTV’s Asia-Pacific director Vinod Kumar adds, “We are pleased to add such valuable partners as India TV News, Kairali TV, People TV and Amrita TV to JumpTV’s growing channel lineup. These channels add a new and diverse level of Indian programming to our strong roster of content which includes Sony Entertainment Television Asia, Punjab Today and Balle Balle, among others.”
Early this June, JumpTV had entered into an exclusive agreement to begin offering Sony Entertainment Television Asia (SET Asia) in North America via internet.
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.
