ITV

Tag: Sonia Verma

  • NDTV initiates top level editorial promotions

    MUMBAI: In a bid to stem the outflow of talent from the organisation, the Prannoy Roy promoted NDTV has elevated a few key professionals, including Barkha Dutt, Vikram Chandra and Dibang, across all its the channels.

    The question as to who would take the position vacated by stalwart Rajdeep Sardesai has been doing the rounds in the industry for a while. The cat is finally out of the bag.

    Senior editor Barkha Dutt has been promoted to be managing editor of NDTV 24×7. Interestingly, executive editor Sonia Verma, who used to head the English news channel, has also been promoted to be at par with Dutt.

    NDTV India’s executive editor Dibang has been promoted as the managing editor of the Hindi news channel.

    Senior editor Shivnath Thukral would now be the executive editor of NDTV Profit, while Vikram Chandra will be the managing editor for the business channel.

    Srinivasan Jain, who oversees the Mumbai bureau, has been re-designated managing editor for a proposed channel that is going by the working name of NDTV Nation.

    According to broadcast industry sources, Aunindyo Chakraborty, tipped to leave for Sardesai’s Broadcast News, has been given enough reasons to stay back. He has been named the executive editor for the yet to be launched channel.

    The organsiational changes were effected in NDTV over the last 15-20 days even as the media company gets ready to launch another channel and insulate itself against poaching and impending competition from new products lined by other companies.

    Earlier, when Rajdeep Sardesai was part of the organisation as managing editor for the network, NDTV 24×7 executive editor Sonia Verma and NDTV India executive editor Dibang and NDTV Profit executive editor Vikram Chandra reported to Sardesai.

  • Roy set to launch independent English, Hindi news channels?

    Roy set to launch independent English, Hindi news channels?

    Prannoy Roy’s New Delhi Television appears to have finalised plans for life after Star News. And it is not on the Zee CNN bandwagon that Roy will be pitching his tent.

    Industry sources say that on 1 April 2003 (a day after NDTV’s content deal with Star ends), Roy will be simultaneously launching two channels – one Hindi and one English.

    Roy already has an uplinking licence and has acquired a teleport through which he will uplink the two channels, industry sources say.

    As far as distribution is concerned, current indications are that the two channels will be offered independent of any major platform, a la Hindi news channel Aaj Tak and BBC World. This puts paid to speculation in the media that NDTV would be aligned with the Zee AOL Time Warner combine. 

    More recent rumours however, have centred around the possibility that Roy might enter into a deal with Sony Entertainment Television. And the last word may yet not have been said on this particular piece of conjecture as there is still a distribution arrangement that NDTV has to put in place. And it would certainly simplify matters for Roy if he has a strong platform to push his channels. Especially considering the fact that preparations are reportedly on in full swing at the India Today Group to launch an English sister channel for leading Hindi news channel Aaj Tak by the year-end.

    As far as the news management team is concerned Star News anchors Rajdeep Sardesai, Sonia Verma and Arnab Goswami have been slotted in for key positions, sources say. Sardesai is slated to be managing editor, Verma executive editor and Goswami news editor, the sources aver.

    If the reports about the news management team are true, it may well be a move to pre-empt any attempts by rivals to poach key personnel. There looks like being a lot of that in the coming months what with all the news channels that are in various stages of development.