News Broadcasting
TWI goes round the world in a Yacht
MUMBAI: TWI, an event and talent management agency IMG’s television arm, will be the host broadcaster for the Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race.
The event kicks off on 18 September 2005. The announcment was made by marine company Clipper Ventures which organises the race.
Clipper Ventures chairman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston said, “We are delighted to be working with TWI. With vast experience in the broadcasting of major events, TWI represents the television rights and distributes programming for some of the world’s most prominent sports and cultural organisations.
“The race will be a truly international sporting event. Teams from Liverpool, Durban, Western Australia, Singapore, Glasgow and the Channel Island of Jersey – defenders of the race title have already signed up. TWI’s unparalleled international network, distributing programming to over 200 countries worldwide, makes them a perfect choice as host broadcaster for the event.”
Knox-Johnston went on to add that the interest in these rights was unprecedented. ” We received tenders from several major broadcast organisations and whilst all of the presentations were impressive, TWI exceeded all the others in its commitment to promote and market the Clipper 05-06 Race allowing us to reach new audiences around the globe.”
The television rights agreement will see TWI maintain a comprehensive News Service throughout the duration of the Race. For this purpose, the company will produce regular video news releases in advance and around the ten-month race itself. The key objective of this new partnership is to ensure that stations all around the world will promote the Clipper race through news and existing sport programmes.
The race will also be seen on TWI’s popular show Trans World Sport. TWI claims that the show is currently viewed in over 260 million households in 131 countries making it the most widely seen, regularly scheduled sports programme in the world.
Last year TWI was appointed as the host broadcaster of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games and of the 15th Asian Games which takes place in Doha in 2006.
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.
