GECs
Star puts in its application for news channel
NEW DELHI: The Rupert Murdoch-controlled Star Group has finally applied to the government for starting a news channel and getting allotted a transponder on an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)-owned Insat satellite.
According to government sources, the government received Star’s application last week, under Star News Broadcasting Ltd.
Setting to rest speculations on the business model it would go in for, the Virgin Island-registered Star News Broadcasting Ltd has also decided to go in for an Indian content partner which will supply it TV software for the news channel, an arrangement similar to what Star has with the Delhi-based NDTV and which expires on 31 March, 2003.
The Indian news content partner of Star News Broadcasting Ltd will be Star India Pvt. Ltd., an Indian company. So Star India, under chief executive Peter Mukerjea, will sell news content to Star News Broadcasting that will have an office in Hong Kong, for airing on Star News channel post 31 March.
Another precautionary measure taken by Star is that it will send news and current affairs content via Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) to be uplinked to an Insat series of satellite, in all probability Insat 2E, a senior government official told indiantelevision.com.
If the permission comes through, it would also mean that post-31 March, 2003, Star News or any other avatar of the news channel will be available on an Insat satellite. “However, the company is free to go in for a secondary transponder on another satellite too, at a later stage as long as Insat satellite is the primary satellite,” a government source indicated.
At the moment, the Star channels, including Star News, is beamed to India through the Asiasat 3 satellite.
If all these factors are taken into account then, through a masterstroke, Star has made sure that rivals and critics are unable to put a spoke in the wheel for Star News channel to twinkle over the next six months.
Meanwhile, it is understood that Star India is going full steam ahead with recruitments, both editorial and technical, for the news channel.
Though at the moment more technical-side appointments are being made, it is expected that by November the full editorial team will be in place. Considering that electronic medium journalism occupies a very small space in India, it would not be surprising to see personnel from rival news channels essaying different roles in the proposed revamped Star’s news channel.
According to the grapevine, names of few people from Aaj Tak hopping over to Star are doing the rounds. It is being said that an input editor may be from Aaj Tak. Some other journalists have joined from the print medium too, like a young and celebrated defence correspondent from an English daily.
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.
