News Broadcasting
TiVo launches new Guru Guide recommendations
MUMBAI: TiVo is all set to launch the TiVo Guru Guide recommendations. TiVo’s newest feature will allow subscribers to discover exciting programming and automatically record great collections of shows, recommended by editorial experts at some of the nation’s top consumer magazines and news sources.
Guru Guide recommendations will create a virtual television channel from each of these authorities, while leaving the ultimate selection and choice to the consumer.
Gurus from Entertainment Weekly, Star, Sports Illustrated, Automobile, Billboard, CNET and others will offer TiVo subscribers program recommendations based on popular television categories including sports, films, music, comedies, drama and more. As an added benefit, TiVo subscribers will be able to automatically record Guru Guide recommendations via the company’s online scheduling feature.
“TiVo is the proven brand for innovation and personalised home entertainment, making it the perfect partner to bring Star magazine to life on television. Making Star’s editorial experts available to TiVo subscribers is a unique, cutting-edge way for us to reinforce our brand awareness beyond print into a powerful electronic medium,” said American Media chief editorial director and executive vice president Bonnie Fuller.
For TiVo, Guru Guide recommendations are the latest in a series of innovative offerings like recently announced TiVo KidZone and TiVo Mobile, and is designed to distinguish TiVo’s product and service from any other DVR in the marketplace.
“Providing our users with a better, smarter way to enjoy their favorite television is at the core of what we do at TiVo and how we transform television viewing for consumers,” said TiVo president and CEO Tom Rogers.
TiVo vice president and general manager programming Tara Maitra said, “By matching up TiVo technology with engaging Guru Guide recommendations from trusted sources, we are empowering TiVo subscribers with a brand new way to find, organize and view their favorite shows in an increasingly crowded television environment.”
Each TiVo Guru Guide recommendation will offer between five and 10 programs of television per week and recommendations will be updated at least once per month to ensure that viewers always receive the freshest and most interesting content on television. Using TiVo’s online scheduling feature, subscribers will have the option of recording an entire TiVo Guru Guide selection, or they can pick individual programs from a given category based on their personal interests.
“Music programming on television and the integration of music into shows has come a long way. Our recommendations are an eclectic assortment of programs aimed at enhancing the music discovery experience. Through Billboard’s Guru Guide recommendations, TiVo subscribers will enjoy some of the freshest new shows out there,” said Billboard Magazine group editorial director Scott McKenzie.
“With so much sport-related content on television today, it’s easy to overlook some really great shows. Sports Illustrated’s Guru Guide will provide viewers with recommendations compiled by our editorial team which will feature an interesting mix of television programming-everything from the best match-ups of the week, to the history of rugby, to the impact of exercise on childhood obesity,” said Sports Illustrated’s website’s managing editor Paul Fichtenbaum.
TiVo Guru Guide recommendations help viewers find engaging programming in popular content areas such as sports, music, TV, movies, beauty and fashion, technology, and urban culture. Other key partners to offer the very first TiVo Guru Guide recommendations include CNET, Automobile Magazine, and H20 (Hip Hop On Demand.)
Additional TiVo Guru Guides categories will become available to subscribers throughout the year at no additional cost.
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.
