GECs
Sahara mulls IPTV for residential complexes
NEW DELHI: The buzzword today is IPTV. Telecom companies like Reliance Infocomm have already expressed their intention to get into the arena. Now it is the turn of Sahara Group to announce its grandiose plans, albeit restricted to the company’s own residential complexes at this stage.
Speaking at the first session of day two at Convergence India, Sahara India Media and Entertainment VP for engineering and operations R S Chauhan said, “Sahara is building state of the art residential complexes in 217 locations in India. We aim at providing a better lifestyle through our complexes and we are considering IPTV as one of the many premium services we shall offer.”
The session on Broadcast technologies/ Digital Entertainment was chaired by Chauhan. The other panelists comprised Harmonic Inc regional sales director Tat Ng, Conax R&D manager B W Nicolaysen, Motorola senior director advanced tech or broadband Dr Ajay Luthra and Irdeto Access business development manager Rahul Nehra.
Motorola’s DR Luthra made a strong case for the latest Mpeg 4 standard, saying that it gave better quality at half the price of Mpeg 2. The standard, he said, would go a long way in reducing bandwidth demands for bandwidth intensive applications such as VOD and NVod.
Irdeto’s Nehra spoke about encryption, especially for IPTV. Nehra said that from a consumer’s point of view, he wanted the entire universe of content, with no latency while switching channels, to be transparent and have friendly billing mechanisms. Also, consumers could choose from a number of service providers.
Making a strong case for the need for encryption throughout the life cycle of content whether it be real time or time delayed, Nehra quoted the CII – KPMG report saying, “The Indian broadcast industry loses around $ 8 billion a year to piracy.”
GECs
ZEEL overhauls sales structure to chase growth across TV and digital platforms
New structure sharpens digital push as viewing habits fragment fast
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. is reshuffling its sales playbook as it looks to keep pace with a fast-changing media landscape, where audiences are scattered, screens are multiplying and advertisers are following the data.
According to media reports, the rejig is anchored in the company’s push to build a more integrated, data-led monetisation engine, one that can straddle both traditional television and fast-growing digital platforms with equal ease.
At the heart of the move is a reworked sales architecture designed to deliver cross-platform solutions. With connected TV gaining ground and digital consumption surging, ZEEL is aligning its teams to move quicker, think broader and sell smarter.
The restructuring is being led by chief operating officer, advertisement revenue, Sandeep Mehrotra, at a time when the company says it is seeing tremendous growth. The idea is simple: match the right talent to the right opportunity in a market that is anything but static.
As part of the overhaul, several long-serving executives have been elevated to chief sales officer roles across regions and content clusters. Sanjoy Chatterjee will head the east market, while Gunjarav Nayak takes charge of the west along with high-margin verticals such as hmg, brand works, intellectual properties and digital sales. Rajnish Gupta will oversee bengaluru and chennai markets alongside the kannada and tamil clusters.
In other key moves, Divjyot Dhanda will lead hyderabad and kochi markets and manage zee tv, zee keralam and the telugu cluster. Roshan Vasu Kotian will supervise a diverse portfolio including Zee Marathi, &tv, Zee Punjabi, Zee Anmol, Big Magic and Zee Biskope.
The company is also strengthening its bench, appointing national sales heads across retail, regional clusters, digital and brand solutions. Ankur Kapila’s appointment to lead digital sales signals a sharper push into a segment that continues to outpace traditional formats.
Behind the scenes, dedicated strategy and operations roles have been carved out for both linear and digital businesses. Nitin Shetty, Rajkiran Shrivastav and Priya Nambiar will take on key responsibilities to ensure the new structure runs with precision.
The broader aim is clear. ZEEL wants a bigger slice of advertising budgets that are steadily drifting towards digital and connected TV ecosystems. By integrating its offerings, the company hopes to deepen client relationships while unlocking new revenue streams.
The new structure takes effect immediately, with Mehrotra continuing to report to chief executive officer Punit Goenka and steer the company’s advertising revenue strategy. Senior executive Laxmi Shetty will support the transition, with her revised role expected to be announced soon.
In a market where content is everywhere but attention is scarce, ZEEL’s latest move is less about rearranging the org chart and more about staying in the game.
