News Broadcasting
NDS dismisses Echostar lawsuit claims as baseless
LONDON: The litigation between News Corp’s NDS and Canal Plus may have been resolved earlier this year but Rupert Murdoch still has a fight on his hands.
A Bloomberg report states that last week EchoStar Communications, which is the second-largest US satellite-television provider, sued News Corp’s NDS Group.
EchoStar claims that NDS employees hacked into its systems and illegally deciphered coding for the “smart cards” that give customers access to programming. Like the above mentioned Canal Plus suit, this one also accuses NDS of indulging in conspiracy, misappropriation of trade secrets and racketeering. The extent of the allegations could allow a court to triple any damages that Echostar is seeking.
NDS has countered by describing the allegations as baseless and nothing more than an attempt by a competitor to cause harm. NDS has noted the repetition in the suit adding that if Echostar had a solid foundation on which to build the case, it would have brought up the matter earlier.
There could be a reason for Echostar’s delay in filing a suit. Ever since September 2002, EchoStar had been looking to join the fight against NDS by joining the Canal Plus lawsuit. However, when the dispute came to a close with Murdoch’s acquisition of Vivendi’s Italian pay TV unit Telepiu, Echostar decided to file a suit of its own.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
