News Broadcasting
News Corp’s OOH arm signs 1st deal in Bangalore; eyes stake in local firms
MUMBAI: News Corp-controlled News Outdoor Group (NOG)’s Indian arm News Outdoor India (NOI) has taken up a 10-year lease on bus shelters in Greater Bangalore.
According to sources in Bangalore’s civic administration, NOI emerged as the front-runner for the tender floated by the local government.
However, finacial details for the decade-long contract are not available.
NOI is also poised to pick up sizeable stakes in three to four outdoor advertising companies in India in a “marriage of local expertise and global experience,” advertising industry sources said.
The company, which has been in the process of getting its Indian act together from early 2006, is “close to finalising some deals in places like Karnataka (Bangalore) and Ahmedabad,” the sources added.
As reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, the Rupert Murdoch-controlled News Outdoor Group made a formal entry into India early this year and had evinced interest in buying into out of home advertising assets, which were of high quality and standing in their local markets.
This is in line with the Russia-headquartered group’s global strategy to grow its presence in the current countries of operation as well as in other emerging markets in Europe and worldwide.
The company offers high-quality advertising displays in prime locations through its operating subsidiaries like News Outdoor Bulgaria, News Outdoor Czech Republic, MMaximedia Israel, News Outdoor Poland, News Outdoor Romania, News Outdoor Russia, Kamera (Turkey) and News Outdoor Ukraine.
News Outdoor India (NOI) is headed by Sumantra Dutta and the company will look at following in its parent’s steps that is active in billboards, street furniture and bus shelters, unique boards, airport transit advertising and in-store POS (shopping mall, supermarket) displays.
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.
