News Broadcasting
TRAI notification freezes cable TV rates as on 26 December 2003
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which a short while ago issued its “CAS consultation note”, has frozen the prices of cable services in respect of free to air (FTA) and pay channels as on 26 December 2003 for CAS and non CAS areas.
This it has done through a fresh notification exercising the powers conferred on it by the government notification of 9 January that gave it additional responsibility of overseeing broadcasting and cable services as a regulator.
Through “The Telecommunication (Broadcasting And Cable) Services Tariff Order 2004” all channel rates have been frozen pending further orders at the levels they were at on 26 December.
The question the new order raises is whether connectivity will also be frozen as of 26 December? This is particularly relevant in the light of certain channels claiming that they have not increased their rates, but have reduced the rates, provided the cable ops and MSOs have increased their declared subscription base. Effectively, what this is tantamount to is a rate hike.
For the record, the operative part of “The Telecommunication (Broadcasting And Cable) Services Tariff Order 2004” is as follows:
“The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), vide a Notification issued today (Pausa 25, 1925 No. 301-3/2004-Eco) has specified a ceiling on “the rates at which the charges will be paid by the cable subscribers to cable operators, by the cable operators to multi service operators and by Multi Service Operators to broadcasters, as those prevailing on 26th December 2003 with respect to both free-to-air channels and pay channels, and for both CAS and non-CAS areas.”
“This intervention will continue until a final determination by the TRAI on the various issues involved. The hon’ble Delhi High court, in cw no. 8993-4/2003 dated 26th December 2003, directed the continuance of implementation of CAS in Delhi on a trial basis, initially for a period of three months, after which appropriate directions would be issued after taking into account the feedback for the three months’ experience. The ceiling on rates have therefore been specified as those prevailing on 26th December, 2003.”
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.
