News Broadcasting
Twin NDTV channels to telecast Apsara Awards live
MUMBAI: After Jai Jawan and the India Fashion Week, NDTV has taken another step towards broadbasing viewership by deciding to air the Apsara Film Producers’ Guild awards live on 29 May.
The awards, in their first year, will be shown live for two and half hours on both NDTV India and 24×7. While news channel Aaj Tak had been the first last year to announce a similar intention to telecast live the Indian Television Academy awards last year, in reality the channel aired only sporadic snippets of the event.
On the other hand, NDTV Media CEO Raj Nayak says the NDTV channels will air the Apsara awards in toto. “The Apsara awards are unique as they are the first instituted for both the film and television industries, and have been brought into being for and by the industry.” Credibility and transparency are among the factors that led NDTV to consider airing an entertainment event of this magnitude live.
The awards will be a formal affair, complete with red carpet and an impromptu opening of the envelope with the winners’ names on stage, a la the Oscars. The completely transparency of the conducting of the awards (Price Waterhouse Coopers auditors went to each guild member to collect and seal the votes) clinched the decision to air the event on NDTV, says Nayak.
Needless to say, film events of this kind have a tremendous viewer interest, which the channel will undoubtedly cash in on. Reliance Infocomm is the presenting sponsor the event, while Nokia is one of the ground sponsors. A 15 camera set up will be used to cover the event, including behind-the-scenes coverage and interviews. The channels also covered the nominations nite in April.Says Film Producers’ Guild of India president Amit Khanna, “We see a definite fit in taking the programme live on the NDTV network, as the content is more focussed toward a formal, credible and transparent awards ceremony, as opposed to an entertainment show. We see in NDTV a great partner to highlight the process and indeed the credibility which is essential in any awards ceremony.”
“The acquisition of such prestigious content is not only a reflection of our ability to produce a live show of such style and class but also our ability to build on the content in a manner which helps the overall imagery of the event. We would be going behind the scenes, covering the lead-up to the main event, the people behind it etc. It also marks the significance of mainstream news channels and the impact they are having on viewers”, says NDTV president Prannoy Roy.
Says Nayak, “We have proved that news channel programming need not be just plain news bulletins. With programming like Hum Log, Gustakhi Maaf and Jai Jawan, we have led the way in innovative programming.” Thus, the Apsara awards give the channel an opportunity to broadbase the content without trivialising the essence of the channel, he says, adding that the channel would be open for similar properties in the days ahead.
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.
