News Broadcasting
Star Gold begins the New Year with a bang
Mumbai, 6th January, 2006 It couldn’t have been a better way to see off 2005- a year that has seen Star Gold deliver some of the biggest hits of the year, and attract attention for its innovative marketing and programming initiatives. The back-to-back premieres of ‘Khullam Khulla Pyar Karenge’ & ‘Kyaa Kool Hain Hum’ enabled Star Gold to grab the lion’s share of the eyeballs on New Year’s Eve – in the process relegating the Zee Cinema premiere of ‘Dil Jo Bhi Kahey” to a no show!
Star Gold’s double whammy has demolished Zee Cinema’s mouch touted slot Shaanivaar Ki Raat- Amitabh Ke Saath with Star Gold grabbing a 5.7 channel share, Max following with 4 and Zee Cinema a distant 3rd with 3.4.
Comments Ajay Vidyasagar, Executive Vice-President, Marketing, Star India Pvt. Ltd, ” All of our premieres this year have been extremely well received by the audiences. The New Year’s Eve success proves once again that Star Gold’s strength at showcasing premieres – with not just the highly awaited ‘Kya Kool Hain Hum’ doing well but also ‘Khullam Khulla Pyar Karenge’. It was of course a very conscious decision to premiere two comedy titles back to back, as it’s a genre that can cut across audience segments. At Star Gold, we are confident that this start will be bettered with every coming month in 2006.”
With the line-up of great premieres & titles coming up-Paheli in January, Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya in February, Sarkar in March, it looks certain that the Star Gold success story that has started in 2005, will continue in 2006 as well.
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.
