News Broadcasting
New Skies to re-deploy NSS-8 satellite
NETHERLANDS: New Skies Satellites NV will re-deploy its NSS-8 satellite, originally scheduled to be launched to 105 degrees west longitude for Americas coverage, to the company’s 57 east slot to provide expansion capacity in response to demand in the Indian Ocean region. NSS-8 is expected to commence commercial service at 57 east, where New Skies’ NSS-703 satellite is currently operating, on or around 1 January 2005.
Reports indicate that by deploying its newest, largest, and the most powerful satellite to an established orbital location in the Indian Ocean region, New Skies will be able to meet the current and future needs of its many customers throughout India, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa as well as capitalise on the region’s strong projected growth.
NSS-8 originally had been planned for launch in late 2003 to serve the Americas market from 105 degrees west longitude. NSS-703, launched in 1994, has long been one of New Skies’ most highly utilized satellites. Following its replacement by NSS-8, New Skies will re-deploy NSS-703, which is expected to continue commercial service until 2009, to another orbital location.
CEO NSS Dan Goldberg has been quoted saying, “This decision underscores New Skies’ operational agility and our commitment to make the most efficient and productive use of our satellite resources and committed capital expenditure programmes in a dynamic market environment. The geographic regions served from 57 east are among the world’s fastest growing markets.
“NSS-8 will bring our customers in the Indian Ocean region the most powerful follow-on capacity with the most comprehensive connectivities available. Further, by repositioning the NSS-8 delivery date and by obviating our need to procure a replacement for NSS-703 in the near term, this decision positions New Skies to achieve positive free cash flow in the current year and will result in approximately $250 million in additional free cash flow over the course of the next three years,” Goldberg adds.
New Skies and Boeing Satellite Systems, the spacecraft manufacturer, have worked closely together to reconfigure NSS-8 for service from 57 east longitude. NSS-8 will carry 56 C-band and 36 high-power Ku-band transponders, making it one of the largest and highest power satellites with coverage of Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa and Asia.
Although NSS-8 will not be deployed to the Americas, New Skies remains committed to developing its 105 west slot in a timely manner. This location is a valuable resource because of its unique ability to see all of North and South America.
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.
