News Broadcasting
Star appoints Michelle Guthrie as CEO
MUMBAI: Star Group announced a new CEO this morning: Michelle Guthrie who was earlier executive vice president of Regional Distribution and Business Development for Star. She will be stepping into the shoes of chairman and CEO James Murdoch who was recently appointed to head BSkyB in the UK.
Guthrie is believed to have a great understanding of the pay TV business. Her key responsibility earlier was to identify and explore business opportunities for the company. She also oversees the distribution of Star channels for the South East Asia region.
Announcing her appointment, News Corp’s chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch was quoted in a company release as saying, “Michelle is one of a handful of people in Asia with over a decade of truly in-depth pay television experience. With her business acumen, sharp sense for new opportunities, her strong ability to run diverse operations and enthusiasm for the TV business, I am confident that she will take Star’s business to the next level of growth and profitability.”
Outgoing chairman and CEO of Star James Murdoch also said,”I have every confidence that Michelle will be a dynamic and energetic leader for Star. I wish Michelle and all my former colleagues the utmost success.”
Guthrie joined Star in June 2000. Prior to that, she was Director of Legal and Business Affairs at Foxtel, Australia’s leading subscription television provider, which is 25 percent owned by News Corp. She had responsibility of all legal and business development functions of Foxtel.
Before Foxtel, Guthrie was corporate counsel in London for News International and British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), the premier digital satellite television service in the UK and 36 per cent owned by News Corp.
Guthrie joined News Corp in 1994 from Allen, Allen and Hemsley, an Australia law firm. She worked as a lawyer in both the Sydney and Singapore offices of Allens.
She takes up her assignment at a time when Star’s India operations are extremely profitable and China is beginning to show profitability. Her challenge will be to drive the company further into these markets and steer it into DTH, and pure pay TV plays with higher subscription revenues.
Talking about her post, Guthrie said, “I am very excited to be given this opportunity to steer the company to its next phase of growth. Over the last three and a half years, I have had the chance to work closely with James and all my colleagues as Star strengthened its position as the industry leader. I am looking forward to continue working with such a strong team.”
Insiders aver that Star TV’s first woman CEO may more than prove to be up to the task.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
