ITV

Category: People

  • ZEEL appoints Pradeep Hejmadi as Business Head of Zee TV

    ZEEL appoints Pradeep Hejmadi as Business Head of Zee TV

    MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) today announced the appointment of Pradeep Hejmadi as business head – Zee TV. Pradeep will be responsible for the overall functioning of Zee TV and will report in to Bharat Ranga, chief content and creative officer (CCCO), Zee Entertainment Enterprises.

     

    Speaking on the appointment, Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises said, “We would like to welcome Pradeep into the ZEE family. With multi-dimensional understanding of the Indian media industry, he has spear-headed and successfully launched, innovative and first-in-class profit-bearing initiatives in the Indian media marketplace. We are confident that his industry knowledge and consumer insight will be invaluable in driving Zee TV’s further growth and innovation.”

     

    Bharat Ranga, chief content and creative officer (CCCO), Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited said, “Pradeep brings with him an immense experience that will help us drive our Vision 2020 goals. We welcome him on-board and we are confident that his presence will add value to the channel and the organisation.”

     

    Pradeep Hejmadi commented on his joining, saying, “ZEE’s flagship channel Zee TV has a rich and successful history behind it and I am looking forward to being a part of its future.  With the incredible talent, original content and dynamic team that the channel has at hand, I am sure that we will be able to break new barriers and conquer even greater heights.”

     

    Pradeep has over 18 years of experience in the Indian media industry spanning Media Sales, Media Planning and Buying, Consumer Research, Business Planning and Product Development. Prior to joining ZEE, he was the Senior Vice President – Strategy Group & Marketing at TAM Media Research Pvt. Ltd. where he was responsible for anticipating needs and focusing resources towards ensuring TAM that builds on its Intellectual Properties and drives the value upwards for consumer insights data and services. He pioneered the Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) Service in India and launched a Sports Sponsorship Evaluation & Consulting division – TAM Sports, thus consistently delivering revenue growth year-on-year, through development and delivery of new and innovative products/services.

    He formerly served as director – business and operations, Nickelodeon India at MTV Networks India and as director – research at Turner International India. He was also associated with organisations such as Discovery Communications India, J. Walter Thompson and The Times Of India. Pradeep is a Science Graduate from Mumbai University and is extremely passionate about playing Badminton and running marathons.

    Pradeep Hejmadi’s appointment is with effect from 1 July, 2014.

  • SBI’s Chandramohan Mehra joins Sab

    SBI’s Chandramohan Mehra joins Sab

    MUMBAI: SBI’s Chandramohan Mehra has joined Multi Screen Media’s (MSM) family comedy entertainment channel Sab. While Mehra was unavailable for a comment, sources within the channel confirmed the development. Today is his first day at the channel as senior VP marketing.

     

    It was two weeks ago that the news broke that the SBI Life Insurance country head – emerging business  was quitting after eight years with the company.

     

    Indiantelevision.com had reported that he would be joining the entertainment industry.

     

    Prior to this, Mehra led the brand and communication initiatives, before being elevated to country head – emerging business at SBI, last year. In his recent role at SBI Life, Mehra spearheaded the creation of online business and the cross sell vertical. The new business premium generated through online vertical grew rapidly to five fold, with SBI Life gaining a lead position in the digital business, in recent months.

     

    Sab’s senior vice president marketing and communications Harjeet Chhabra had left the organisation on 5 May after a six year stint to join Adlabs Imagica.

  • Ajit Anjum set to join India TV as managing editor

    Ajit Anjum set to join India TV as managing editor

    MUMBAI: Ajit Anjum, current managing editor of News 24 is set to take up the same position with one of the leading Hindi news channels- India TV.

     

    Anjum is currently serving his notice period with News 24 and according to sources, will be joining India TV from 1 August. This place has been vacant since former managing editor Vinod Kapri left the channel after a long stint of six years.

     

    Meanwhile, News 24 deputy director for news Deep Upadhyay will oversee operations.

     

    With an experience spanning more than two decades, Anjum has had stints with Aaj Tak, Chauthi Duniya and Amar Ujala.

  • RIP Jehangir Pocha: A journalist & a gentleman

    RIP Jehangir Pocha: A journalist & a gentleman

    To most viewers, he looked fit as a fiddle. Hence, when news broke that NewsX editor in chief Jehangir Pocha had breathed his last, it came as a shocker. Some had only spoken to him the previous evening, others last week, or very recently, or like us earlier this year when he attended the Indian Digital Television Honours in New Delhi as a representative of the ITV group.

     

    At first glance, Jehangir came across as a cool, calm, collected sort of a chap. A cultured Parsi gentleman used to speaking softly in measured tones when he encountered you in person. Beneath that mild-mannered exterior ran a probing journalistic mind, which posed many an incisive question that put those he interviewed on the 9X News channel on the spot.  

     

    But unlike other celebrity news anchors on other English news channels who indulge in histrionics and one-sided shrill shouting matches, he gave his guests a chance to speak. His questions begged an answer, and respond guests had to, because Jehangir would not let them get away without doing so. Whether it was the former chief minister of Delhi Sheila Dixit or Amitabh Bachchan or Anna Hazare.

     

    He was only a phone call away for us at the indiantelevision.com group and general manager Anoop Wanvari would oft reach out to him to partner with our various ground initiatives which he willingly did, even when he was finding it a struggle to keep NewsX going.  We are grateful to him for his support in our times of need.

     

    A former colleague, Indrajit Gupta, the founding editor of Forbes India, writes in an obituary piece in BusinessWorld, that he got a call early last week from him, saying he was frustrated with the Indian system and he was dying to go back abroad.

     

    “He sounded agitated. Venture capitalists had promised him they’d step in after the elections. But they hadn’t to back his plans. He wanted to bid for some distressed media assets in play,” writes Gupta in his obit. “The frustration was beginning to creep in.”

     

    His last tweet on the night before he passed away mentioned that he was “hurrying home” with a news clip (about a Bombay High Court judgment that stated that reaching home late consistently without informing your wife amounts to cruelty) attached to it.

     

    His demise prompted member of parliament Derek O’Brien to tweet: “The high pressure life of TV journalism?  Appan Menon at 49, SP Singh at 49 and today @JehangirPocha at 45 NewsX. Gone too soon.”

     

    And that’s a question which begs answering: is the high pressure life of TV news journalism getting to those in it?  They may not know it, but it probably is. When you are working in the business of television news, you are working in a pressure-cooker environment.  

     

    Deadlines because of the competitive nature of the business, irregular meals, pressure from affected vested interests while reporting, reporting from dangerous and conflict zones, keeping pace with the latest developments – the news journalist is on a treadmill that never seems to be stopping.

     

    For the managements of news organisations, they have to additionally deal with rising costs not accompanied by revenue increases; carping advertising partners disturbed by news reports; maintaining, nay, improving viewership ratings, innovating with changing technology and what have you.

     

    One can say that all these pressures are intrinsic – and have been so for long – to running a news channel. But they have been magnified in the recent past in India with increasing competition and the rapid commercialisation of news. It is quite likely that these will exacerbate further.

     

    Jehangir was under pressure. His channel was in keen competition with the English language news leader Times Now.  He wanted to expand his company’s business footprint, could not for want of capital and was thus frustrated, which added to his pressure.

     

    Therefore it’s about time TV news organisations introspected and even made those that are employed with them look deep within. Regular health checks, exercise, and leading a well-paced daily routine generally should be encouraged even more.

     

    It could go some way in preventing many more from going the Jehangir Pocha, Appan Menon, and SP Singh way.

  • BBC Worldwide production head Roshan Dutt resigns

    BBC Worldwide production head Roshan Dutt resigns

    MUMBAI: Everybody remembers the face on the screen, but how many ever notice the sweat and toil that goes behind the camera?

     

    With more than 15 years of expertise in the field of production, BBC Worldwide Productions head of production Roshan Dutt has resigned from his current position.

     

    Dutt confirmed the development to indiantelevision.com and said that he will be serving his notice period till 18 July. He had put down his papers on 18 June.

     

    Dutt wants to take a break before he moves on to his next assignment. “I haven’t fixed up on anything yet. I will probably work as a consultant for some time. I want to do interesting work and move beyond the regular things which I have been doing.” Movie production houses are on his mind.

     

    He has shows like Indian Idol and Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa and many more to his credit. “Today with so much dominance from broadcasters, producers don’t get too much creative freedom but just end up executing what is told to them,” he adds.

     

    Dutt started his career with Channel V in 1999 as a production head OAP. He worked in the position for more than two years, after which he was elevated to senior production manager shows. He continued in that capacity till 2004. Later, he worked as a unit production manager at Miditech to execute Indian Idol season one for eight months.

     

    In 2005, he was appointed as a head of production at FremantleMedia, where he worked for a year and then joined Dong Tay, VAC, Vietnam as executive producer for nine months.

     

    Being with BBC Worldwide Productions for seven years, he believed it was time to move on and take up something which gives him the creative freedom.

  • Raj Television appoints S Jeyaseelan as CFO

    Raj Television appoints S Jeyaseelan as CFO

    MUMBAI: Raj Television Network has got a new chief financial officer (CFO). In a statement to the BSE, the Network has said that as recommended by audit committee and remuneration committee of the company as well as after approval by Board meeting that was held on 28 April, S Jeyaseelan has been appointed as the CFO of the company.

     

    His appointment is effective from 1 April 2014. Jeyaseelan was earlier the company’s manager of finance since the last 19 years.

     

    Raj Television is a 20 year old company based in Chennai and promoted by four brothers. Recently, the company was on a lookout for equity investors to fund its growth plan by raising Rs 200 crore through stake sale.

     

    Raj Television Network operates 12 channels in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.

  • Asianet News ropes in MG Radhakrishnan as editor

    Asianet News ropes in MG Radhakrishnan as editor

    MUMBAI: Kerala’s largest broadcasting network has just had a change of editor for its News channel Asianet News. MG Radhakrishnan has taken charge as the new editor.

     

    Radhakrishnan has over 32 years of experience in journalism with his last stint being associate editor of India Today magazine as well as Malayalam newspaper Mathrubhumi. He has also authored two books ‘Damshtrayum   Nettikkannum Theliyumpol’ and ‘Bhayam Premam Sangeetham’. He is a post graduate in Economics and has specialised in politics, economics, sports and culture.

     

    Radhakrishnan has won various awards including state award for development journalism, K Balakrishnan prize for excellence in journalism and the Kerala state film award for best writing on cinema.

     

    He will now report to Asianet News editor in chief TN Gopakumar.

  • New hope for NTV and HMTV with new editors

    New hope for NTV and HMTV with new editors

    MUMBAI: The editorial team of an old Telugu News channel, NTV, has just got a new boss. The channel has roped in K Siva Prasad as its new editor. Prasad took charge from 3 July and was earlier the editor of Zee 24 Gantalu, the now defunct Telugu News channel from the Zee cluster.

     

    On the other hand, Rajasekhar who was the editor of NTV before Prasad took charge has moved on to HMTV where he will be the MD and chief editor. Rajasekhar replaces erstwhile HMTV MD, CEO and editor in chief K Ramachandra Murthy.

     

    Murthy’s next stint is yet unknown. He has worked with Andhra Jyoti, Vartha and Udayam newspapers.

     

    HMTV was launched in 2009 with the slogan ‘Faster…Brighter’ while NTV was launched in 2007.

  • Rajdeep Sardesai-Sagarika Ghose to join India Today group?

    Rajdeep Sardesai-Sagarika Ghose to join India Today group?

    MUMBAI: India’s power news couple – Rajdeep Sardesai and Sagarika Ghose – may be headed for Aroon Purie’s India Today group.

     

    While Sagarika is joining Living Media magazine India Today as editor at large, Rajdeep is reported to have got an offer to join the TV Today Network, which he confirmed to Indiantelevision.com.

     

    Said Sardesai: “Yes, Shekhar Gupta – vice-chairman, India Today group and editor in chief of news properties and I have been in discussion and we go back a long way. But I have not yet taken a decision. I am currently, focusing on my book for the next six weeks as I have to complete it by then.”

     

     Sources close to the India Today group however revealed that both Sagarika and Rajdeep have accepted the offer made to them. Their joining date is expected to be 1 August.  

     

    The India Today group has gone through some changes on the editorial front in the past few months with the magazine’s editor Kaveree Bamzai stepping down, Headlines Today managing editor Nalin Mehta quitting and Karan Thapar launching his show on the channel. 

     

    Sources indicate that Gupta has decided to give the group a new independent editorial thrust, something along the lines that the Indian Express group had in its heydays.

  • Finally, Rajdeep Sardesai says sayonara to IBN18

    Finally, Rajdeep Sardesai says sayonara to IBN18

    MUMBAI: First it was the better half of the power news couple – Sagarika Ghose-Rajdeep  Sardesai –  that announced through twitter last night that she was departing from CNN-IBN. Now Rajdeep Sardesai too has said his last sayonara to a news network he helped build from scratch. In a mail he sent out to his team today, he  announced his departure, expressing that it was one of the toughest letters to write.

     

    The reason for his departure he states in the message is that  editorial independence and integrity have been articles of faith in 26 years in journalism and may be “ I am too old  now to change.”

     

    Said he in the message: “ I must confess it’s not easy to leave a baby that one has helped create/build/grow and to leave such great colleagues. But I guess certain things in life are written in the stars. Editorial independence and integrity have been articles of faith in 26 years in journalism and maybe I am too old now to change!”

     

    He added in the message that the success of the channels – CNN-IBN, IBN7 and IBN Lokmat – was possible because of the freedom given to the journalists by the leadership at Network18.

     

    And he closed his message by saying: “Forget the cynics, journalism my friends is a great profession. Good journalism makes a genuine difference to the world by offering a mirror to society. Yes, putting news above noise, sense above sensation and credibility above chaos must remain a credo forever: else journalism will lose its moral compass. I hope the new management will always put journalism first and I wish them well.”

     

    Rajdeep’s departure comes two days before the new Network18 management is slated to be announced.