News Broadcasting
Sahara One reschedules primetime shows to five days a week
MUMBAI: After Star Plus, Sony and Zee, it is now Sahara One Television’s turn to reschedule its primetime shows from originally airing them four days a week to five days a week.
With effect from 5 December, the channel’s primetime shows Hare Kkaanch Ki Choodiyan (8.30 pm) Woh Rehne Waali Mehlon Ki (9 pm) and Kituu Sabb Jaanti Hai (9.30 pm) will now be telecast from Monday – Friday instead of the original Monday – Thursday.
The Friday primetime slot on Sahara One, which was until now occupied with movies will now shift to the weekends (Saturday and Sunday).
Speaking to Indiantelevision.com on the reason behind the change, Sahara One Television COO Purnendu Bose said, “Our weekday primetime shows are doing well and these demand appointment viewing. It is a myth that weekdays are from Monday to Thursday and the weekend is from Friday to Sunday. We have extended our shows to Friday so as to have consistent programming for the week. With this shift we are also looking at consolidating the 8.30 pm – 10 pm band.”
However, Sahara One’s latest offering Saath Rahega Always, which airs at 7.30 pm will continue to air from Monday to Thursdays for the time being.
When queried as to why the new show was being left out of this shuffle, Bose said, “The show has just started and as of now we don’t have a sufficient bank. As as when that technicality is taken care of, Saath Rahega Always will also be included in the Friday lineup.”
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.
