News Broadcasting
NDS to lead digi cable transition in Korea
MUMBAI: News Corp’s technology solutions provider NDS Group announced today that CJ CableNet had selected NDS as the conditional access provider for the launch of digital cable TV services.
CJ CableNet, Korea’s largest MSO, is a member of the powerful CJ Group media conglomerate. The company is planning to launch a digital broadcasting service comprising more than 120 digital and interactive TV services, with the first trial services available in October 2004.
CJ CableNet CEO Lee Kwan Hoon was quoted in an official release as saying, “CJ CableNet is spearheading the transition to digital media within the CJ Group, and the company has aggressive plans for new digital services. NDS conditional access technology is the key part of our digital strategy. It will enable CJ CableNet to offer new services in the areas of digital media and entertainment and generate new revenue.”
NDS Asia Pacific vice-president and general manager Sue Taylor said, “NDS has committed significant resources to develop OpenCable solutions for Korea, and we are now focusing on deploying the NDS leading technology within the aggressive timeline of CJ CableNet. NDS and CJ CableNet also developed one of the world’s first OCAP-compliant electronic programme guides, which will set a new standard for digital broadcasting services in Korea and create a new viewing experience.”
This year, leading Korean MSOs and SOs are launching digital broadcasting services. There are 11 million cable TV households in Korea and the number of cable TV households is forecast to increase dramatically as a result of the launch of digital broadcasting operations. Due to the success of NDS in the Korean cable TV market, the NDS Korea operations have expanded rapidly during the past year.
Korea has mandated the OpenCable OCAP standard for digital cable TV broadcasting. NDS was one of the first conditional access providers to be granted certification by the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA) of Korea.
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.
