News Broadcasting
MIPTV celebrates 40th anniversary next month
FRANCE: The International Television Programme Market held at Cannes turns 40 next month. MIPTV serves as a world-wide meeting place for all professionals in the field of television: audiovisual rights holders, broadcasters, producers, distributors, video publishers, cable, satellite and telecommunications operators. The event runs from 24-28 March.
To commemorate the occasion, 40 years of MIPTV have been captured on film. Reed MIDEM is creating a 40th anniversary film. The film will celebrate 40 years of both MIPTV and the television industry as a whole and will unfold against a backdrop of international events putting the progress and development of television worldwide into perspective. It will include extracts of those cult series, documentaries, TV films and series that have marked their era in the history of television, together with interviews with key professionals who have been instrumental in the success of the market.
Partnerships have also been concluded for access to archives with media institutes such as Path, Reuters, and I.N.A, who will also be providing much of the archival footage for this unique film. The film will also stand out as a key reference film where events such as the increasing technology in TV, international broadcasting and the globalisation of the industry as a whole are put into focus.
Milia – the World’s Interactive Content Marketplace will run along with MIPTV from 26-28 March. The new MILIA format will facilitate focused networking and global deal-making, building opportunities for digital entertainment across multiple platforms. The new programme will feature four key elements: Super Panels & Keynotes, Business Forums, Content Villages, and Targeted Networking Events.
The MILIA super panels and keynote sessions will cover the latest trends and strategic thinking affecting the digital platform and interactive content industries. They will provide the delegates with valuable market information as well as a deeper understanding of key issues as discussed by leading industry experts. The new business forums will provide a global platform for debate focusing on Mobile Entertainment, Enhanced & Interactive TV, Broadband Internet and Leisure Software whilst the Content Villages will provide a dynamic visual showcase for these industry sectors.
MILIA 2003 Enhanced and Interactive Television Business Forum will examine the business potential of Enhanced TV and Cross-Media Formats: Visitors can find out out about the latest creative practices and smart enabling applications for Enhanced TV Programming and Interactive Formats
Within the Palais des Festivals MIPTV will feature an exclusive interactive area which will incorporate MILIA’s Digital VIP Lounge and provide a convenient meeting place for broadcasters, producers and distributors of interactive formats.
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.
