News Broadcasting
Reality TV to debut on Pakistan’s Cross Current platform
MUMBAI: Zone Vision has inked an exclusive five-year carriage agreement with Cross Current in Pakistan to broadcast the company’s flagship Reality TV channel. Amongst the special line up for the debutante channel is a hit series- Matchmaker.
The channel will reach approximately 1.5 million cable and DTH subscribers throughout the region.
A 24-hour channel delivering a non-stop insight into people’s lives without actors, special effects or rehearsed material, Reality TV tells the stories of real people in real situations and shows events as they actually happened, says an official press release.
According to the release, Cross Current went ahead to sign the deal following channel’s impressive reach within a few months of the launch of Reality TV in India. The channel has crossed a viewership of 15 million households across the country in a short span of 13 months, claims the release.
Distributed in India by Zee Turner, the channel is available worldwide to over 120 million subscribers in 16 languages.
Announcing the launch, Zone Vision senior vice president, group sales and marketing Mark David said; “This is a significant deal for Zone Vision because very few foreign cable channels have secured penetration in Pakistan as the territory has remained one of the few relatively closed markets to broadcasters. Cross Current has both the professionalism and the backing to put Reality TV on the map in this region, providing us with a significant inroad to Pakistan’s huge television audience.”
Besides, the global producer and distributor of thematic channels, Zone Vision has concluded an exclusive program licensing agreement with Canada’s Tricon films and television, an independent entertainment production and distribution company, to acquire the international cable and satellite rights to the hit reality dating series Matchmaker.
A part of channels prime-time agenda, Matchmaker is scheduled to premiere on 3 May 2004 in the UK, the series will rollout in January 2005 on Reality TV in the US, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
Says Reality TV vice president, programming Steve Cole: “Matchmaker is an exciting acquisition for our expanding global network of channels. With this we have widened our range of programming content. We’re confident that Reality TV viewers will enjoy Matchmaker’s excellent production values and mischievous sense of humour.”
First produced in 2001 and currently in production on season five, Matchmaker became one of the highest-rated programs on Canada’s Life Network. Produced by Tricon, the series has established itself within the 18 – 34 demographic with an equal number of men and women viewers, says the release.
The series features a matchmaker in each episode, who arranges a date for a loveless friend. The entire experience is captured via closed circuit television. Hosted by Andrew Anthony, the series has the producers scour the city for that special someone.
On the matchmakers request, the producers also help the contestant with a complete make-over prior to their date. Be it makeup artists, wardrobe consultants, or psychics, everything is taken care of.
Looks like reality is taking roots in Indian subcontinent.
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.
