News Broadcasting
Sudhanshu Vats appointed MD Viacom18; Rahul Joshi is MD Network18 and TV18
MUMBAI: It’s promotion time at the Reliance Industries-owned news firm TV18 Broadcast and Network18 Media and entertainment broadcasting major Viacom18. The boards of the three companies have upped their respective CEOs to managing director (MD). Sudhanshu Vats who was earlier group CEO, Viacom18 has now been designated as MD even as Rahul Joshi has been given the same designation at both Network18 Media and TV18 Broadcast. Joshi’s position is for a term of three years with effect from 9 July 2018, while Vats’s redesignation awaits the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals.
Vats has been associated with Viacom18 from last six years, while Joshi has worked at Network18 Group since September 2015 and is CEO news and group editor in chief.
Adil Zainulbhai, chairman of Network18 and TV18 said “Both the appointees have tremendous skill and experience and will continue to drive our news and entertainment businesses towards leadership, as we continue to invest in these areas.”
Joshi has done his masters in management studies from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai University.
Prior to joining the Network18 group, he worked for more than two decades with The Economic Times, where he rose through ranks to quickly become one of India’s youngest editors, and has also worked as its editorial director. He also launched ET Now and helped shape the digital coverage of ET Online.
Joshi was also employed with The Indian Express in the past. He is also on the board of News Broadcasters Association (NBA).
Vats is a management graduate from the Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad. Prior to joining Viacom18, he spent about 20 years in Hindustan Unilever (Unilever India) where he worked in sales & marketing and general management roles across categories and shaped many popular household brands. Vats is also chairman of the national media & entertainment committee of CII (Confederation of Indian Industry), VP of IBF (Indian Broadcasting Foundation) and director of BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council).
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.
