ITV

Tag: TV Today group

  • Uday Shankar takes charge as senior vice-president of FICCI

    Uday Shankar takes charge as senior vice-president of FICCI

    MUMBAI: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) has elevated Uday Shankar as senior vice president of the apex industry body in the country.

    Shankar had been holding vice-president role at FICCI since 2018 and this is for the first time that Indian media executive would assume the second in command leadership charge of the chamber.

    Shankar is currently chairman and chief executive officer of Star India and president of 21st Century Fox (Asia); he has been given additional charge as chairman of Star and Disney India and president of Walt Disney (Asia), which he will assume charge of new role post takeover of 21st CF by Disney.

    Shankar began his career as a political journalist with The Times of India, and eventually rose to Editor and CEO position at Star News, the first 24-hour news channel in India. He played a prominent role in making Star India one of the largest media & entertainment companies in India.

    He spearheaded the launch of Aaj Tak (2000) and Headlines Today (2003) as Hindi and English news channel respectively while being at the helm of Editor, News Director’s position at TV Today Group.

    Being the chairman of FICCI Media & Entertainment Committee, Shankar has been at the forefront of landmark changes in self-regulation and pushing access for consumers to digitized distribution.

    Shankar holds an M Phil in Economic History from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. He is an avid reader and his knowledge domain transcends from literature to politics, economics, and sports.

    Along with Shankar’s elevation, the chamber has also appointed Apollo Hospitals Group managing director Sangita Reddy as president, Hindustan Unilever’s chairman and managing director Sanjiv Mehta as vice president.

  • SC grants relief to MS Dhoni in case over portrayal as Lord Vishnu

    SC grants relief to MS Dhoni in case over portrayal as Lord Vishnu

    NEW DELHI: Ace cricketer M S Dhoni got a stay from the Supreme Court on criminal proceedings initiated against him for hurting religious sentiments for being portrayed as Lord Vishnu in a magazine cover. 

     

    The apex court bunched his petition with plea of TV Today group head Aroon Purie who had also moved the court in the same case. The court had earlier stayed proceeding against Purie also. He was named in complaint for being editor-in-chief of Business Today, which published Dhoni’s photo. 

     

    The Special Leave Petition was against an order of the Karnataka High Court, which had refused to quash the criminal proceedings pending against him before a trial court in Bengaluru that was slated for today.

     

    The cricketer pleaded that the complaint filed against him was frivolous and the criminal proceedings needed to be quashed as it was filed just to harass him in the case.

     

    The High Court had said, “A celebrity and a cricketer like Dhoni should know the consequences of hurting religious sentiments of people. He should have known the consequences of doing such ads. These celebrities are signing ads without any responsibility. Their aim is to earn easy money without considering the problems it may create.”

     

    The complaint, filed by social activist Jayakumar Hiremath, had alleged that Dhoni was seen on the cover of a business magazine as Lord Vishnu, holding several things, including a shoe in his hands.

     

    Taking cognisance of the complaint filed by Hiremath, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate had registered a case against Dhoni under section 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) along with 34 of the IPC.

     

    Dhoni had moved the High Court when summons were issued by the Magistrate to appear before him.

  • Karan Thapar to host ‘To the Point’ on Headlines Today

    Karan Thapar to host ‘To the Point’ on Headlines Today

    MUMBAI: Last week, the news of CNN-IBN’s most popular anchors moving on to another channel surprised many. Starting tonight, TV Today Group’s English news channel Headlines Today will begin a new show with Karan Thapar called ‘To the Point’.

     

    The one hour show produced by the channel will air on weekdays at 8:30 pm that will focus on a range of topics. The pilot episode will start off with an exit poll. To the Point is replacing News Night that earlier used to air between 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm and Centre Stage between 9:00 pm to 9:30 pm.

     

    Thapar has been notable for his shows such as ‘Devil’s Advocate’ and ‘The Last Word’ on CNN-IBN. He has over three decades of experience in journalism and has won several awards.

     

    He has his own production house Infotainment Television that makes programmes for BBC, Doordarshan and Channel News Asia.

  • MJ Akbar joins BJP as spokesperson

    MJ Akbar joins BJP as spokesperson

    MUMBAI: A line of journalists have begun showing their political stances of late. First Shazi Ilmi and Manish Sisodia quit their respective jobs to join upcoming Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Now one of India’s top notch journalists MJ Akbar has joined another party- the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as its official spokesperson.

     

    The PTI quotes him as saying “I have come back to politics because of policy. The crisis in front of the country is known to all. This is an opportunity to do whatever little we can do for our country.”

     

    Akbar is renowned for starting The Telegraph, The Asian Age and The Sunday Guardian. The latter is now a part of Information TV Group managed by Kartikeya Sharma that runs NewsX and India News channels.

     

    Additionally, Akbar is also currently hosting a show on NewsX called ‘Decode India with MJ Akbar’.

     

    He is currently the editorial director of The Sunday Guardian. Earlier he was associated with the TV Today group.