News Broadcasting
Sahara aims at share of lifestyle programming pie
MUMBAI: Sahara Manoranjan has not tried lifestyle programming till now, but is now aiming to go full throttle at it with a fashion magazine show hosted by VJ and actor Malaika Arora Khan.
Slated as part of the channel’s weekend programming, the Malaika show is likely to have one telecast on Sunday mornings. Her presence on the channel is aimed at attracting younger viewers to this entertainment channel. The other show targeted at younger viewers, Saathiya, too goes on air on 19 July, and will run Mondays to Thursdays at 8.30 pm, in place of the outgoing Zindagi Teri Meri Kahani.
While Malaika will add the necessary glamour quotient to the Sahara Manoranjan programming, another mega show, Chandramukhi (directed by Sunil Agnihotri, who earlier created the opus Chandrakanta) has also commenced shooting. Produced by Applause Entertainment, this show is expected to go on air in the coming few months.
Sahara officials also confirm that Malini Iyer, the Sridevi starrer that was expected to create waves but has caused hardly any ripples in television programming, is due for a revamp by September. The programming revamp at Sahara Manoranjan is being phased in gradually, and more changes could be in order as the management contract deal struck with Percept D’Mark takes shape in the following weeks.
Officials also confirm that pre-production work has begun on a Hindi quiz show to be produced by ace quizmaster Sidhartha Basu’s company, Synergy Productions. Basu, however, will this time not be seen in front of the camera, but will restrict himself to wielding the director’s cap.
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.
