News Broadcasting
Malayalam channel Indiavision gets earth station
MUMBAI: The long-in-gestation Malayalam satellite TV Indiavision is gearing up to launch its earth station on 3 January. The ribbon cutting will take place at the hands of film star turned politician and Union minister of state for health, Vinod Khanna.
Promoted by its chairman MK Muneerr, who is also the leader of the state wing of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the channel was first expected to launch in 2001 but has since been delayed. The company had announced partnership deals with Sony Entertainment then.
A note sent out by Indiavision resident director Jamal Farooquee to indiantelevision.com, says that Indiavision should launch “anytime now” with the flagging off of the earth station.
According the Faqoouee, the earth station, situated at Tutu’s Tower on the bye pass road, cost about Rs. 27.5 million to build. “Though it can uplink two channels for now, it will be possible to uplink many more channels with a potential to earn revenue due to its strategic location in Kochi – the Information Gateway of India,” he adds. “Also, Indiavision shall have the unique distinction of being the first private television channel in India to launch from its own earth station.”
A function to mark the occassion of the inauguration of the work station is to be held at the Le Meridian Convention Centre, Maradu, Ernakulam, at 7.30 pm on 3 January.
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.
