ITV

Category: People

  • Sudhir Puthran to handle west India ad sales for Kasturi channels

    Sudhir Puthran to handle west India ad sales for Kasturi channels

    MUMBAI: Kannada channels Kasturi and Kasturi News have got a new ad sales head for west India in Sudhir Puthran.

     

    Based in Mumbai, Puthran who joined the company nearly a month ago will handle the ad sales for both, the general entertainment channel and the News channel. He will report to Kasturi Media sales and marketing head Navaneeth CM.

     

    Prior to this, Puthran was DDB Mudra group head, where he was part of the decision making team for marketing and brand building. He was also involved in deciding marketing budget, creating annual marketing campaigns, conceptualising brand campaigns and establishing annual goals for marketing.

     

    He has also worked with MPG, TME, Dentsu India, Madison Media and Radio City. His mandate at Kasturi will be to increase revenue from the west by 50 per cent while heading a team of two.

     

    Kasturi, the GEC was launched in 2007 and headed by its managing director Anitha Kumaraswamy. She is the wife of HD Kumaraswamy, former chief minister of the state and son of former Prime Minister of India HD Deve Gowda. The News channel was launched in 2011.

     

    The GEC has shows such as Nagmani, Sai Baba, Nakara Bakara, Kamanabillu, Swara Madhurya, Divya Degula, Phata Phat, Reel Suddhi, Cini Club, Just Travel, Jeevan Mukhi, Bhanuvarada Baadoota, Nalapaka and Super Samsaara.

  • Ajit Thakur takes charge of Channel V

    Ajit Thakur takes charge of Channel V

    Updated: 12:30

     

    MUMBAI: It was in early June when the news broke that Star India executive vice-president and general manager Prem Kamath – who heads Channel V and Star Pravah was quitting. As reported first by indiantelevision.com, Kamath will move to A+E Networks. Currently, Kamath is serving his notice period which ends this month.

     
    Now, highly placed sources within the network have confirmed that the man who has led Life OK to soar on  the ratings chart, Ajit Thakur, has been given the additional charge of managing Channel V. Sources also confimed that Thakur has taken charge a week ago. However, Thakur himself was unavailable to comment on the development. 

     

    It is quite probable that another professional will be roped in to look after Star Pravah.

     
    The talented professional, Thakur, has been with Star India since August 2011 and has since seen the overhaul of the then Star One to a Hindi GEC which today ranks amongst the top three in the country. Prior to that, he was with Sony Entertainment Television as programming head, Balaji Telefilms with its motion picture unit and with UTV’s production arm.

     
    An IIM Lucknow graduate and a Coca-Cola India and a Hindustan Lever alumnus, Thakur had nurtured creative ambitions from the early days in his career but drifted into corporate life before being spotted and hired by Ronnie Screwvala for his production house seven years back. 

     

  • Vijaya Laxmi Chhabra named interim DG of Doordarshan

    Vijaya Laxmi Chhabra named interim DG of Doordarshan

    MUMBAI: Even before the current Doordarshan director general (DG) Tripurari Sharan’s term comes to an end later this month, a new person who would later take charge has been found.

     

    Vijaya  Laxmi Chhabra has been named as the interim DG of Doordarshan. She was the former ADG (programmes) in All India Radio and was set to retire in March. She will hold charge till the next DG is found.

     

    Prasar Bharati sources told indiantelevision.com that the process of appointing a final DG will be undertaken as soon as some of the vacant posts in Prasar Bharati Board are filled.

     

    Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that there were nine contenders for the post of DG, one of whom was Chhabra. The other names that featured in list were MIB joint secretary of broadcasting Supriya Sahu, culture ministry joint secretary V Srinivas, Mahesh Joshi, Deepa Chandra, Aparna Vaish, Mukesh Sharma and Lalsonga.

     

    Doordarshan additional director general Ranjan Thakur was also one of the names proposed for the position, but due to his unavailability, Chhabra will be the DG for a while.

  • Vivek Krishnani joins MSM Motion Pictures

    Vivek Krishnani joins MSM Motion Pictures

    MUMBAI: An old hand in the industry with experience in several broadcast initiatives, Vivek Krishnani has joined MSM Motion Pictures as senior VP marketing and revenue.

     

    Prior to this, Krishnani was head of distribution, marketing and syndication at Fox Star Studio India for six years. While at Fox, he was instrumental in setting up the India team, creating the national distribution network, managing the P&L for Hollywood releases and domestic revenues for Bollywood releases.

     

    He started off his career with Ammirati Puris Lintas (now Lowe Lintas) and has worked with Radio City, Star India, Turner International India and Turner Entertainment Networks Asia.

     

    Recently, MSM Motion Pictures made several key managerial changes including Sneha Rajani being elevated to deputy president and head of MSM Motion Pictures. Some of the films under its banner include Bajate Raho, Darr @ the Mall, Youngistaan and Mango.

  • Nikhil Wagle quits IBN Lokmat

    Nikhil Wagle quits IBN Lokmat

    MUMBAI: Following his counterparts in the Network18 group, IBN Lokmat editor in chief Nikhil Wagle has also decided to part ways with the company.

     

    Announcing the decision through Twitter, Wagle said, “Just resigned from IBN LOKMAT.  Will continue journalism without fear or favour!”

     

    On his decision, former IBN18 editor in chief Rajdeep Sardesai tweeted, “@waglenikhil salute you for building India’s finest regional language channel.”

     

    Indiantelevision.com was first to report about Wagle considering to move on from the company which is now under the control of Reliance Industries.

     

    His next move is yet unknown.

     

    Wagle has worked with Doordarshan as well as newspaper Aapla Mahanagar and has been with IBN Lokmat since its launch in 2008.

     

    Network18 has seen a spur of resignations right from founder Raghav Bahl relinquishing hold over the company, but staying on as non executive director of Network 18, to group CEO B Saikumar, COO Ajay Chacko, CFO RDS Binni Bawa, IBN18 editor in chief Rajdeep Sardesai, CNN-IBN deputy editor Sagarika Ghose, Web18 CEO Durga Raghunath and several others who within a span of a few weeks, left the company.

  • Biswa Majumdar to join ETV News Bangla as senior editor

    Biswa Majumdar to join ETV News Bangla as senior editor

    KOLKATA: Network 18 controlled ETV News Bangla that launched around four months ago, will be appointing veteran journalist Biswa Majumdar as senior editor from August, highly placed media sources from the company have confirmed.

     

    Currently Biswa Majumdar is the editor-in-chief of Focus Bangla, another 24-hours Bengali news channel from Kolkata.

     

    Dhrubajyoti Pramanik was appointed as editor of ETV News Bangla earlier this year. ETV News Bangla was launched in the presence of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on March 15 this year.

     

    More than 40 journalists had joined in the editorial team from the Zee group, ABP Anando, News Time, 24 Ghanta among others.

     

    ETV News Bangla is trying all the means to capture the news market in Bengal. Experts say that the investment by Network 18 in this channel is big and it expects a bigger return too.

  • FremantleMedia promotes Chris O’Dell to head of global entertainment production

    FremantleMedia promotes Chris O’Dell to head of global entertainment production

    MUMBAI – FremantleMedia, one of the largest creators, producers and distributors of television brands in the world, today announced the promotion of Executive Producer Chris O’Dell to Head of Global  Entertainment Production.

     

    Reporting to the Director of Global Entertainment, Rob Clark, Chris will oversee and be the first point of contact for FremantleMedia’s international production teams as they roll out formats such as X Factor, Got Talent, Idols and Farmer Wants a Wife across the world.

     

    Chris O’Dell says: “FremantleMedia has some of the world’s best-known entertainment brands in its catalogue and a fantastic set of producers in the all the major markets who deliver these formidable shows time and again. I’m really excited to take on this new challenge, work with the team to continue to deliver our global hits and introduce international audiences to some of our exciting new formats.”

     

    Rob Clark added: “Chris is one of the most experienced producers I know. He has worked with some of the biggest companies and most well-loved names in the entertainment industry, and has a wealth of experience producing FremantleMedia’s hit shows all around the world. I think he’ll be a fantastic Head of Global Entertainment Production and look forward to work with him as we continue to roll out our shows in new markets.”

     

    Prior to his promotion, Chris was Executive Producer at FremantleMedia for the last seven years, working with executives, producers, territory heads and local broadcasters to produce, refresh and manage FremantleMedia’s key entertainment formats including X Factor, Got Talent, Take Me Out, Hole in the Wall and Idols. An experienced media executive, Chris has held a number of production roles such as Executive Producer, Series Producer and Head of Development with companies which include TWI Entertainment, part of IMG Media, Granada Entertainment and London Weekend Television (LWT) where he had various roles including Head of Entertainment Formats, Executive Producer, Series Producer & Creative Executive. His production credits include Blind Date, Surprise Surprise, An Audience with…, Saturday Night Takeaway and Ant & Dec’s All Star Cup. Chris also created two formats – Chef V and The Better Half – which sold internationally.

     

    Chris’ promotion follows the departure of Diana Buddingh, who left the business to return to Holland in May.

  • Life OK reshuffles its management team

    Life OK reshuffles its management team

    MUMBAI: Star Network’s second general entertainment channel, Life OK has been in news since it jumped to the number three spot in the TAM TV Ratings chart. The channel is looking at only growing bigger from here. And in an effort to achieve this, Life OK has made some managerial changes. 

     

    After Pratik Seal, who was working as Life OK’s marketing head, took over as Star Utsav business head, the vacant seat has now been taken by Sushma Rajesh.

     

    Rajesh, who has been working with the channel as head of programming for a year now, will now take charge as the VP marketing. Prior to this, she was working on channel strategy at Star India.

     

    Replacing Rajesh is Yuvraj Bhattacharya who was earlier the creative director with the channel and will now be heading the programming team.

     

    The channel launched in 2011, is known for its differentiated content and is gearing up to strengthen its fiction programming in the coming months.

     

  • Sameer Nair joins Balaji Telefilms as Group CEO

    Sameer Nair joins Balaji Telefilms as Group CEO

    MUMBAI: He has donned numerous hats. From selling space in Yellow Pages to being a member of a political party, Sameer Nair has had a volatile career.

     

    The former Star India CEO is now all set to join Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms as Group CEO.

     

    On 15 July, Nair attended the board of directors meet and will take full -charge from today.

     

    Nair said, “I have enjoyed a wonderful association with the Kapoor family since 2000 following the launch of the hugely successful ‘K-series’ on Star Plus and later with their shows on Imagine. Undoubtedly the team has done a remarkable job of creating one of the most vibrant entities in content generation. The M&E industry is currently at a very dynamic stage and  will  continue  to  present  several  exciting  opportunities  across  all  segments, heralding significant change in times to come. I am delighted to have the opportunity of being a part of an extremely exciting business at one of India’s most pioneering, creative and talented media houses. Given BTL’s several strengths as a business, it is very well poised to capitalise on emerging growth prospects. I look forward to working together with Ekta, Shobhaji and the team, in driving strategic initiatives, furthering the Group’s vision of being regarded as an innovative entertainment powerhouse and enhancing value for all stakeholders.”

     

    Balaji Telefilms MD Shobha Kapoor added, “We are delighted to have Mr. Nair joining the Balaji family. Sameer brings with him immense and diverse experience in the media and entertainment industry and an acknowledged   record  of  content  innovation,  business  leadership  besides  being  an excellent  resource  unifier. Over  the  last  several  years  we  have  built  an  unparalleled franchise in creation of television content and have also developed  a very strong brand equity within the film production  segment. We are excited that Mr. Nair possesses  the same passion  for entertainment  as us and we look forward to him further reinforcing Balaji’s  inherent  strengths  in  both  segments  and  driving  the  Company’s  growth  & expansion strategies to help us scale greater heights.”

     

    Nair who was very vocal about his association with Aam Admi Party (AAP) started his TV career in 1994 where he began as a director-producer for Star Movies, Star’s English movie channel. In 2000, his career as well as Star reached higher peaks with Kaun Banega Crorepati which helped take Star Plus from number three position to number one.

     

    Soon, he was given the charge of the network as CEO. But it was short lived as he quit the company after 13 years of association in 2003.

     

    After that, he joined NDTV’s new joint venture with Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions as CEO. As part of the JV, he was involved in launching NDTV Imagine, the Hindi GEC in November 2007. However, the channel didn’t do well and was shut in 2012. 

     

    Since then, Nair has been busy as independent media entrepreneur and been making frequent trips to Delhi to support and contribute in AAP’s communication strategy.

  • Rajiv Lakshman quits Colosceum as CCO

    Rajiv Lakshman quits Colosceum as CCO

    MUMBAI: Colosceum’s chief creative officer Rajiv Lakshman has decided to quit. He is currently serving his notice period, with his last day in office being 31 July 2014. Lakshman has been one of the founding members and the creative core of the company. He is expected to announce his new venture soon.

     

    That apart, Hitesh Bhatia has joined Colosceum as VP – programming. Bhatia has been associated with Colosceum for more than four years and has been director of all seasons of MasterChef for Star Plus. Bhatia has over 14 years of rich experience working as both director and creative director. Further, Colosceum has also elevated Vikrant Bharadwaj as VP – programming.

     

    Speaking on the development Colosceum COO Lalit Sharma said, “Rajiv has been an invaluable asset to the company. He gave the team strong creative leadership with the freedom to experiment and he’ll be hard to replace. I wish him good luck with his future venture. I am sure soon we will be working together on our next big project. At the same time I repose full faith in Hitesh and Vikrant who have been associated with Colosceum for quite some time now. In fact we have worked with Hitesh on all our big ticket shows. The ability of both Hitesh and Vikrant to create and execute shows fits well with Colosceum’s goals.”