News Broadcasting
Zee issues notice to BSE on board meet
Zee Telefilms Ltd today issued a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange that it has scheduled a meeting of its board of directors for 1 February, 2002, to consider and review the corporate structure of the company.
It was in September that Zee Telefilms president (corporate finance and strategy) Rajesh Jain had said the company would be reducing the number of its subsidiaries from 22 to between 10 and 12 in line with its overall corporate restructuring plans.
“Over a period of time, we will rationalise the number of our subsidiary companies for maximising synergies,” Jain had said then.
The move will align the businesses of the media conglomerate under three broad heads: Content, access and education � as proposed by management consultants AT Kearney.
Taking up the example of Zees access business, Jain said this business comprises Siti cable which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ZTL. Siti cable, in turn, has a wholly-owned subsidiary called Zee Interactive Multimedia Ltd. Zee plans to merge these two companies to bring the access function under one umbrella.
While the education business is conducted via a single company called Zee Interactive Learning Systems (ZILS) all the remaining subsidiaries perform the crucial content business, both in India and overseas, he said.
The move by Zee Telefilms to further rationalise its large number of subsidiaries follows divestment of its stake last year in three subsidiaries Buddha Films LTD, Zee Sports LTD and Zee Publishing Ltd.
In line with this restructuring exercise, e-Connect India LTD, which is at present a wholly-owned subsidiary of ZTL, may be merged with ZILS, for distribution functions, the holding company Patco may be merged with the direct-to-home marketing company EL-Zee.
ZTL has eight wholly-owned subsidiaries in India including Patco, EL-Zee Television LTD, Siti cable, ZIML, e-Connect India, ZILS besides two regional channel companies in Dakshin Media LTD (Tamil) and Kaveri Entertainment LTD (Kannada).
Its overseas subsidiaries include Zee Multimedia Worldwide LTD British Virgin Islands (ZMWLBVI) which is the holding company of ZMWL Mauritius and others. ZTL holds 50 per cent stake each in Winterhealth Company LTD which is the holding company for Asia Today Ltd.
Other ZTL subsidiaries functioning abroad include Expand Fast Holding BVI (which is the broadcasting company for Zee Music, Alpha and English channels) and Zee Multimedia Worldwide, Mauritius.
Zee Telefilms had last year appointed Kearney which suggested many changes in the then organisational structure including downsizing the media giants manpower, realigning businesses under the three distinct business heads with their respective CEOs and sprucing up programming on the flagship channel Zee TV.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
