News Broadcasting
Viacom’s Q2 operating income up 10%
MUMBAI: Media conglomerate Viacom, which owns MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount, among other entities, has reported its results for the second quarter ended 30 June 2004.
Viacom’s second quarter results were led by double-digit revenue and operating income increases in the company’s cable networks and television segments, as
well as revenue growth in every business segment.
For the second quarter of 2004, Viacom reported operating income of $1.4 billion. This marked an increase of 10 per cent from $1.3 billion for the same quarter last year. It also announced a 7 per cent revenue increase to $6.8 billion from $6.4 billion for the same quarter last year.
Operating income gains were led by increases of 23 per cent in Cable Networks and 35 per cent in Television. Advertising revenues went up by 11 per cent. For the six months ended 30 June 2004 operating income increased by 14 per cent to $2.6 billion from $2.3 billion
The company continues to believe it is on track to deliver full year revenue growth of 5 per cent.
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.
