News Broadcasting
Nick to celebrate 25th anniversary by going off air
MUMBAI: All-kids channel Nickelodeon has come up with a novel way of celebrating its 25 years of being on the air. At a time when channels are doing their level best to keep viewers hooked, Nick will be going off air and calling on children to spend the day playing instead of watching television. The aim, obviously, is to impress on children the importance of physical activity.
The broadcaster goes off air for the first time in its history on 2 October. The network will encourage kids globally to spend the afternoon playing on what has been designated a the first-ever Nickelodeon Worldwide Day of Play.
In addition, India is one of the countries where Nickelodeon plans to have special events commemorating its Worldwide Day of Play.
As part of its commitment to being an ally and an advocate of kids, Nickelodeon and its international arms are launching this multi-media global event to promote healthy lifestyle and stress the importance of physical activity and play.
At 12 pm on 2 October, Nickelodeon will go dark for three straight hours across the globe. After resuming its broadcast, the network will return with a roster of multi-media activities advancing the message of healthy living.
These will include a live, televised event in the US; video updates from local Worldwide Day of Play celebrations being held everywhere from California to India and New York; and specially produced fun and informative on-air and online healthy-living messages.
Online at Nick.com, kids can register and become official players, make play pledges and download their official player numbers for the Worldwide Day of Play. Nick.com will also roll out new playful activities for kids each week throughout the summer.
NickJr.com will provide parents with information on
Nickelodeon Worldwide Day of Play events. It will also offer easy activity ideas to get their kids playing and moving and include a printable Play Pledge for families to track family participation in the campaign.
The Nickelodeon Worldwide Day of Play is part of Nickelodeon’s Let’s Just Play campaign. This is now in its second year. It is the network’s pro-social grassroots campaign encouraging kids to engage in healthy, active lifestyles.
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.
