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Category: People

  • Sandeep Dahiya moves on from Times Group

    Sandeep Dahiya moves on from Times Group

    Mumbai: Times Lifestyle Enterprise CEO and Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd (Times Group) director of brand extension Sandeep Dahiya has decided to move on from the organisation. According to a statement, he will continue to be with the group till mid-November, for a smooth transition.

    Dahiya spent eight years at the media conglomerate, spearheading the launch of its legacy brands into newer consumer categories. 

    “It’s been a great journey over the last eight years – of learning, leading, and growing. Working closely with Vineet Jain has been a privilege, and have much to thank him for my growth and learning here,” Dahiya said, confirming the development.

    At Times Lifestyle Enterprise, Dahiya led the Times Group’s foray in the beauty space, with the launch of Femina Flaunt Studio Salon – a company-owned, company-operated format, in Mumbai.

    “With so much happening in the fashion and beauty space – new consumer awareness, newer platforms, and exciting business-building frameworks, it’s time for me to explore newer challenging avenues,” he further said.

    With over 25 years of experience, Dahiya joined the Times Group from Viacom18, where he spent eight years, heading its consumer products business – creating a scalable & sustainable business model in new categories for brands and IPs of MTV, Nickelodeon, Vh1, and Colors.

  • Utpal Das takes charge as Pen India Group CEO

    Utpal Das takes charge as Pen India Group CEO

    Mumbai: Pen Studios has appointed Utpal Das as its new group CEO. Das will be leading all the businesses under Pen Studios and its affiliates, announced the media company on Friday.

    In a career spanning 30 years across engineering, consumer, healthcare, and media industries, Das has a remarkable history of success in implementing high-impact growth strategies. For the last 20 years, he has been professionally focused on the media business serving in various capacities at companies like TV Today, Times of India, Zee TV, and Viacom 18.

    “Utpal was a natural fit in our organisation, his business acumen combined with his industry experience is exactly what we needed for our planned growth here on,” commented Pen Group chairman and managing director Dr Jayantilal Gada.

    “Pen Group currently has many mega projects and different ventures as well, and I am happy to be a part of this dynamic organisation and look forward to grow with it,” said Das on his new role.

  • Nikunj Dalmia named managing editor of ET Now Swadesh

    Nikunj Dalmia named managing editor of ET Now Swadesh

    Mumbai: Times Network has named Nikunj Dalmia as managing editor of its yet-to-be-launched Hindi business news channel, ET Now Swadesh.

    In his new role, Dalmia will lead all editorial decisions and oversee the management of the channel besides continuing his role as the managing editor of the network’s English business news channel ET Now, said the broadcast network on Friday.

    “Nikunj is a network stalwart and has played a pivotal role in nourishing and growing ET Now since its inception,” said Times Network managing director and chief executive officer MK Anand. “He has been instrumental in shaping and sustaining ET Now’s market leadership. We are thrilled at the launch of our second Hindi news offering, ET Now Swadesh, and I am confident he will lead this new mandate to its glory and success, and further raise the bar for the Hindi business news category.”

    With over two decades of experience in tracking corporate India, government policies, domestic and global economies, Dalmia is one of India’s most renowned business news anchors.

    “I am really excited to take on this new mantle and look forward to working with a talented and determined team of journalists and crew,” said Dalmia. “With a unique content offering that is focussed on empowering viewers with the knowledge that will enable them to be part of India’s growth story, ET Now Swadesh will sharply differentiate itself from other players in the Hindi business news category.”

  • Adani Group names Sanjay Pugali as CEO and editor-in-chief

    Adani Group names Sanjay Pugali as CEO and editor-in-chief

    New Delhi : Adani Enterprises has named senior journalist Sanjay Pugalia as the CEO and editor-in-chief of the Group’s media entity. In his new role, he will report to Pranav Adani and work closely with Sudipta Bhattacharya.

    Pugalia carries vast experience in digital, television and the print media. He was previously the president and editorial director at Quint Digital Media. The company had informed BSE that Pugalia has moved on from the organisation on 16 September, and that he “wishes his very best to the team at the Quint and will continue as friend, guide and mentor to the team.”

    Pugalia has earlier worked with CNBC-Awaaz, Star News, Zee News and was one of the founding members of AajTak. As a print journalist, he has also worked with Business Standard and Navbharat Times.

    Also read :https://www.indiantelevision.com/exec_life/y2k5/dec/30dec/mylife.htm

  • RPG group chairman Harsh Goenka supports Zee TV’s Punit Goenka

    RPG group chairman Harsh Goenka supports Zee TV’s Punit Goenka

    MUMBAI: The media has been full of cacophonic noise about the boardroom battle that is going on at Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Some investor groups have lauded the initiative by two of the company’s two main investors to reconstitute the board and oust CEO & managing director Punit Goenka (who represents the promoter family being Subhash Chandra’s son) for failing to professionalise the management and enhancing the shareholder value.

    Institutional Investor Advisory Services founder Anil Singhvi is quite vociferous that Zee is one of the best Indian media companies but needs to be in the hands of a good professional CEO. Speaking to moneycontrol.com he said that the promoter family should also be happy about this. “They have a four per cent stake and already their value has gone up with the share price rising 25-30 per cent on the announcement by the two institutional investors to hold an EGM to move out Goenka and the resignation of the two directors,” he pointed out.

    However, smaller shareholders voiced their confidence in Punit’s ability to get Zee back as a stellar performer during the company’s AGM on 14 September where he explained the initiatives that were underway under his leadership. Punit also reiterated that there were no hidden or shady related third party transactions under his charge as is being alleged.

    There are many in the industry who point out that Punit has definitely brought In professionalism into the company by bringing in executives at the leadership level from companies such as Hindustan Lever, Future, BCCI, and Aditya Birla group and built a good management team.

    Among them is corporate leader Harsh Goenka (chairman of the $3.80 billion RPG group and no relation to Punit). Harsh has come out in support of Punit.

    Late in the evening of 15 September Harsh tweeted: “I just can’t understand why would a large investor try to destabilise a good leader, a good management team, which has a track record to show. If valid reasons were given, it’s different. A dangerous trend! #Zee.”

     

     

    Most of his followers on Twitter seconded his view, while the naysayers said the promoter family had it coming.

    The coming days will decide whether the street and Zee’s investors will have the last word. Or the promoter family.

  • CEO Punit Goenka bats for Zee 4.0 vision, as boardroom tussle rages on

    CEO Punit Goenka bats for Zee 4.0 vision, as boardroom tussle rages on

    New Delhi: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) is gearing up for a boardroom tussle with two of its big investors demanding the removal of its top management. Amid all this, CEO Punit Goenka took the stage at the company 39th Annual General Meeting (AGM) to address the shareholders and highlight the efforts taken by the management over the past year to transform the organisation into the Zee 4.0 version.

    “The last financial year has been a dynamic one for us, a year where we started afresh, starting a brand new chapter in our book,” said Goenka at the 39th AGM held on Tuesday.

    The meeting comes after two of the company’s top investors – Invesco Developing Markets Fund and OFI Global China Fund LLC – who together hold up to 18 percent of the stake demanded the removal of Punit Goenka, Manish Chokhani, and Ashok Kurien as directors in an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM). Both Chokhani and Kurein submitted their resignations as non-executive non-independent directors of the firm ahead of the meeting.

    Discussing the year gone by, Goenka said the financial year 2021 was an unprecedented year on all counts. “There was a massive disruption in the first half, and ZEEL’s advertising revenues reduced by almost half,” he added as reported by moneycontrol.com. “There was a sharp rebound in the later part of the year, leading to a 6.8 percent growth in the second half. The subscription revenue saw comparable growth of 5.2 per cent during the year, primarily driven by sci fi.”

    Elaborating on the plans to transform the organisation, Goenka told the shareholders that the Zee team is working on revamping the programming line-ups of the linear channel portfolio to bounce back in the key markets, and expand the broadcast portfolio with the launch of two new channels during the year. 

    “The future roadmap for next three years is going to be driven through digital. The digital business has great promise for the future. It is growing multi-fold,” said Goenka talking about the renewed focus on the digital, with Zee5 scaling its content library and enhancing the customer experience.

    “We are still in investment mode for our digital business and our film business. We enjoyed leadership in several of the markets that we operate in.”

    However, in terms of verticals, he said, the linear business enjoys the maximum of popularity and profitability. “We also want to be the leading studio in films across six languages, and we will continue to increase our market share in the music category also,” he added.

    Responding to the shareholders’ concerns over the impact of the pandemic, ZEEL MD and CEO said Zee Studios bore the maximum brunt, due to the closure of malls and theaters across the country, and continues to face challenges. Zee Anmol also lost market share due to the lockdown restrictions. “The exceptional expenditure incurred in Q1 of FY22 was on account of relocation of shoots to alternate locations,” he added, noting that this will not be significantly higher in the coming quarters.

    On repayment of funds from related parties, Goenka said that there have been no loans given to related parties from the company. “There have been business revenues that we collect from related parties like Siti Cable and Dish TV and other parties and the board monitors these recoveries very closely and the management is engaged with related parties for recovery of our overdues, if any.”

  • BARC India’s Derrick Gray appointed as MRSI VP

    BARC India’s Derrick Gray appointed as MRSI VP

    Mumbai: BARC India’s chief of measurement science and business analytics Dr Derrick Gray has been appointed as vice president of the Market Research Society of India (MRSI).

    Earlier this year, Gray was also appointed as chair of the professional standards committee at MRSI that was established to ensure strong ethical and professional standards for the Indian market research industry.

    “I am quite honored to assume the role at MRSI India,” said Dr Gray. “With my experience over the years in statistical research, measurement and data science, I am looking forward to working collaboratively with the team at MRSI. We hope to be able to make significant progress together as a team.”

    A veteran audience measurement and advanced analytics executive, Gray brings with him a global experience of two decades in audience measurement and audience information systems for various media including linear TV, digital video, and radio. He has lead several statistical research, measurement science, data science functions during his distinguished career.

    He has previously served on the board of directors of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA) of Canada.

    “We at BARC India are extremely proud of Derrick’s recent appointment and would like to congratulate him. We wish him all the success for this new role and look forward to him guiding market research in India to even greater heights,” said BARC India CEO Nakul Chopra.

  • Brian Robbins to lead Paramount Pictures as chairman & CEO: Reports

    Brian Robbins to lead Paramount Pictures as chairman & CEO: Reports

    Mumbai: ViacomCBS Inc, the parent company of Hollywood-based Paramount Pictures, is expected to name Brian Robbins as next chairman and chief executive officer of the film studio. Currently serving as ViacomCBS’ president of kid and family entertainment, Robbins will succeed Jim Gianopulos, who has run the company since 2017, reported The Wall Street Journal.

    In addition to leading the studio, Robbins will reportedly retain his roles at Nickelodeon and Paramount+ streaming service.

    The move comes as ViacomCBS is bolstering its presence in online streaming against the likes of Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, etc. Paramount+ currently has 42 million subscribers and aims to have a subscriber base of 65-75 million by 2024.  According to media reports, Gianopulos will stay aboard to assist with the transition of the leadership team.

    Robbins took the reigns of Paramount’s kids channel Nickelodeon as president in 2018. Prior to that, he served as president of Paramount Players, a production division of the studio that develops, produces and markets feature films from original source material and in collaboration with Viacom flagship brands Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, and BET.

    Paramount is likely to announce the change soon.

  • Star & Disney India expands roles of Kevin Vaz, Gaurav Banerjee

    Star & Disney India expands roles of Kevin Vaz, Gaurav Banerjee

    Mumbai: Star & Disney India has expanded the roles of senior executives Kevin Vaz and Gaurav Banerjee. 

    Previously, head of kids, infotainment and regional entertainment channels, Vaz has been appointed as head of entertainment, a newly created role and will be responsible for the entire entertainment channel business. Banerjee, previously head of English and Hindi entertainment channels, has been appointed as head of content and will spearhead content for HSM entertainment channels and Disney+ Hotstar including regional content on the OTT platform.

    The new roles were announced by The Walt Disney Company India and Star India, country manager, K Madhavan in an internal memo to staff.

    Vaz’s remit will expand to include Star Plus, Star Bharat, Star Utsav, Hindi movies, and English cluster. Star Plus, GM, Sumanta Bose, Star Bharat, GM, Arpit Mankar and Star India, GM – Hindi films, Hemal Jhaveri will report to Vaz. Additionally, Star India’s executive vice president – ad sales, entertainment business, Arghya Chakravarty will have a dotted line reporting to Kevin for HSM ad sales.

    The content heads of all Hindi channels will report to Banerjee. Hemal Jhaveri will also have a dotted line reporting to Banerjee for digital movie rights. Apart from Jhaveri and Dhawal Gusain, all regional channel GMs will also have a dotted line reporting to Banerjee for Disney+ Hotstar content.

  • FNP Media appoints Girish Johar as COO

    FNP Media appoints Girish Johar as COO

    Mumbai: Ferns N Petals-housed content production company FNP Media on Friday announced the appointment of Girish Johar as chief operating officer (COO). Johar is a film trade & business analyst, film maven & promising producer.

    In a bid to expand its footprint in the media & entertainment industry, FNP Media said it plans to create content in all formats like short films, ad films, web series, and film originals for OTT & theatricals.

    “Johar will be directly responsible for overseeing the operations, content creation, marketing & business exploitation of all avenues for the company,” it added.

    With an overall experience of over two decades in the film industry, Johar brings with him a deeper understanding of cinema, right from its creation to its appreciation amongst the audiences, across all formats. In his new role, Girish will be responsible for fueling the growth of FNP Media.

    In his previous assignments, Johar has worked with media companies like PVR, Sony, UTV Disney, Balaji, Zee Entertainment to name a few. His professional, multi-tasking & focused approach has won him many laurels & special recognitions.

    Welcoming Johar on board, Ferns N Petals & FNP Media, MD & Founder, Vikaas Gutgutia said, “His rich experience and expertise in cinema will be a great asset to the FNP group and will help in scaling business and growth of FNP Media. We are looking at building a plethora of content library in the next three-four years with an overall investment of Rs 100 crore plus. Ferns N Petals through FNP Media is determined to identify people who demonstrate amazing talent and help them foray that into a long-term career.”

    Commenting on his appointment, Johar said, “I am elated to be a part of Ferns N Petals family. It is a reputed and momentous group to grow with and I am looking forward to taking hold of my role and build a long-term association with FNP Media. Making this an established media entity not only within the fraternity but amongst our ever-growing audiences, across platforms and differentiated formats.”

    FNP Media, general manager, Ahmad Faraz said, “It is indeed a pleasure welcoming Girish Johar to our growing team, I am looking forward to working with him and establish FNP Media as one of the top players of content in the next few years. With his experience and knowledge of the industry, I am sure we will be able to produce good quality content.”

    FNP Media has two verticals, Live By FNP Media and Films By FNP Media. The content in the form of short films, web series, storytelling is hosted on YouTube channels of the respective verticals that showcase performing arts, films & shows, etc.