GECs
Sony to unveil summer collection
MUMBAI: This time last year, amidst the World Cup euphoria, Sony Entertainment announced five new shows and its plans to launch a couple more every season.
As for this summer, the channel seems ready to buttress its strong weekend programming. After revamping its existing shows, the channel will launch next show from the Balaji Telefilms stable Kkehna Hai Kuch Mujhko, from 11 March 2004 at 8:30 pm.
Although the show will telecast its debut episode on Thursday, it is actually a Friday – Sunday show with bankable stars Pallavi Joshi, Kiran Karmarkar as the protagonists. The launch of KHKM will also coincide with another Balaji weekend show – the supernatural suspense thriller Kya Haadsa Kya Haqeeqat – turning from a one-hour show into a half-hour one.
‘Balaji meets Astitva (the movie)’ as Ekta Kapoor calls KHKM, is a soap with a non-commercial story line.
Talking to indiantelevision.com, Kapoor offers that the show is about the life of an Indian woman after 35. Typical to the Indian scenario, the woman realises that she is reduced to being just a mother or a wife. The soap details her journey of self rediscovery.
As for the Thursday debut episode, the channel will be airing a special “Shagun” (the astrology angle again?) episode to introduce the story and the characters.
But it is not just the weekend franchise that the channel is planning to build. The channel will also be launching its youth centric show Yeh Meri Life Hai , produced by Optimystix Entertainment India Limited in the 10 pm slot on weekdays sometime in March-April period.
Meanwhile the channel is all set to introduce a fantasy daily Chandrakanta, on 23 January 2004 at 8:30 pm. Directed by Nirja Guleri, the show was a big hit on Doordarshan in the early 90s. Back then, the show with a big canvas and bigger budget amassed a whopping Rs 670 million in revenue for Doordarshan.
Later, in 1999, Prime Channel – the production house – shot the next season for DD1. Later Star Plus began airing the repeats of the show, but unfortunately the show didn’t work and was pulled off.
Based on a novel of similar name, Chandrakanta is the story of eternal love set against the battle and strife between two kingdoms Naugarh and Vijaygarh. Starring Shikha Swaroop, Shahbaz Khan, Mukesh Khanna, Parikshit Sahani, Pankaj Dheer, Kruttika Desai and Kalpana Iyer, the show was canned on sets worth Rs 3.5 million and designed by ace designer Nitin Desai.
The show that will air from Monday to Wednesday is almost a decade old. Will the audience (the kids) lap it up? We will just have to wait and watch.
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.
