News Broadcasting
Prasar Bharati invites equipment tenders
MUMBAI: Pubcaster Prasar Bharati has invited tenders from firms and manufacturers for vital installations like TV studios, radio studios and transmitter for the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of AC Plants of various capacities in the Western region of All India Radio and Doordarshan for sound broadcasting stations.
The notice asks for details regarding special experience in designing air conditioning systems with low noise levels. Applications such as for television and radio broadcasting studios, recording studios etc with a minimum 5 years of experience in the field have been sought. It also specifies that the tender should submit the ITCC, copy of ISO 9000 certificate, solvency certificate and information about past experience as well as bio-data regarding organisational set-up, professional qualification of senior partners and network of after-sales service.
The notice further states that the pre-qualification of tenders will be received by All India Radio and Doordarshan, Chief Engineer (WZ) on any working day between 10 am to 5 pm latest upto 3pm on 26 December 2002.
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.
