U.K. Sinha and Dipali Goenka have been appointed Independent Directors of NDTV for a period of two years effective March 27, 2023, based on the recommendations of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, and subject to the approval of shareholders and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. U.K. Sinha has also been designated as Non-Executive Chairperson of NDTV. 

Sinha has served as the Chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) between 2011 and 2017. Under his stewardship, SEBI is credited with having brought in significant regulatory amendments in areas such as Takeover Code, Foreign Portfolio Investors and Alternate Investment Funds.

Goenka is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Welspun India Limited. 

ZEE Media Corporation will be launching three channels, keeping in mind the elections scheduled in three states this year and the general elections set for next year.

As per media reports, the three channels were Zee News HD, and two others in Kannada and Telugu.

ZEE News has recently unveiled a new look, with a vibrant colour pallet and clear visuals.

According to the channel, the new design has been curated from the findings of a market research that provided insights into audience preference.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has released a list of multi-system operators (MSOs) as per the status of their compliance to TRAI's interconnection regulation.

The ministry has advised broadcasters to enter into fresh interconnection or renewal agreements with only those MSOs who have complied with the above.

The interconnection regulation requires TV channel distributors to audit its subscriber management system, conditional access system and other related systems by an auditor in order to verify their monthly subscription reports.

As per a statement issued by MIB, "Many MSOs have failed to get registered on Digial India MIB portal". The MSOs have also not submitted the other required details, it says.

Ahead of IPL 2023, Multi-System Operators DEN Networks, Hathway Cable & Datacom and GTPL Hathway have reportedly informed their subscribers that they will be removing Star channels, including Star Sports from their basic packages from April 1.

It has to be noted that Star owns the TV rights to IPL and Reliance Industries’ Viacom18 has the digital rights. RIL also happens to own DEN and Hathway and has a 28% stake in GTPL Hathway.

The development is of significance since Viacom18 will stream the upcoming season of IPL on JioCinema for free.

According to Elara Capital's Karan Taurani, the removal of Star channels from the base package ahead of the IPL season may have a neutral impact in the worst case scenario. The move can also benefit Star if subscribers who want the television experience opts for a la carte or individual channels to watch IPL.

He also noted that post NTO implementation, only 8% of the customers moved to a la carte as India consumers are value centric. "92% of the consumers will still consume bouquet-based offering."

The move to remove Star channels from the basic packages may not have any big negative impact, says Taurani. "This is one genre which has stood out vs others which have reported a decline (especially Hindi GEC and movies) in the post covid era."

Prativa Mohapatra, Vice President & Managing Director at Adobe India, has joined the exchange4media News Broadcasting Awards (enba) jury panel. Mohapatra’s career spans over 25 years in the technology industry. She currently leads Adobe’s India business across Adobe Experience Cloud, Adobe Creative Cloud and Adobe Document Cloud, reporting to Simon Tate, Adobe’s president for Asia Pacific (APAC).

Before Adobe, Mohapatra was with tech firm IBM, where she served as Vice President of Digital Sales for APAC. Prior to that, she led sales for IBM India and South Asia where she was responsible for driving revenue for the company’s portfolio of solutions and services. She started her career at the professional services firm PwC India and has a wide range of experience, including leading business transformations, scaling teams to meet hyper growth and evangelising Artificial Intelligence technology with customers.

enba was formulated by the exchange4media group in 2008 with the objective of recognizing the best in television news. The awards honour industry leaders who are responsible for shaping the future of television broadcasting in India. This year, enba is in its 15th edition. The grand jury will be led by Sunil Arora, a senior bureaucrat and former Election Commissioner of India.

WION, World Is One will launch on the UK’s leading platform – Freeview via IP and using the most innovative FAST SSAI on 22^nd March 2023. The channel expanded its global footprint and increased its reach by 15 mn Freeview Connect households in the UK. Viewers in the UK can tune in to the channel on Channel #287 via Freeview, starting March 22, 2023.

Emphasising the global partnership and outreach, Madhu Soman, Chief Business Officer of WION, said, “WION has always been open to exploring new platforms. Taking into consideration the fact that Freeview replaced the old analogue TV service accessibility to a widespread audience in the UK, it is a great opportunity for the channel to present global stories from an Indian perspective. This global move also encourages us to further boost timely and fast-paced news reportage with gripping visuals and strong content, backed by research and investigation.”

Anindya Khare, Marketing Head of Zee Media Corporation Limited, further added, “The United Kingdom television viewing market is expected to flourish because of some major factors like emerging economies' rapid economic development, demand for smart televisions, the growing over-the-top platform market etc. We strongly believe that the UK market has a lot of potential for the channel to introduce new customised programme packaging to the audience, engage stakeholders through strategised communication and build on a high preference ratio.

Through a strategised approach, we also look forward to being consistent in launching interesting programmes on WION in markets like US, India, UK etc. This allows our glocalised viewers and readers to understand the impact of major global events from a uniquely Indian perspective.”

“We are thrilled to launch WION via Freeview Connect and expand Freeview news offering with the leading news channel from India and also being able to monetise it using the Synapse FAST SSAI”, said Tanya Kronfli, Managing Director of Global Distribution Services, specialising on delivery and digital Monetisation of TV content via Freeview Connect.

Gauranga Das Prabhu, an author, spiritual leader & inspirational speaker, has joined the exchange4media News Broadcasting Awards (enba) jury panel. Das, a graduate from IIT Bombay, is a member of ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission. He is actively involved in enhancing leadership effectiveness and governance of temples and communities globally.

Owing to his expertise in presenting vedic knowledge in a contemporary and enticing way, he has been a part of TEDx events and corporates like Intel, Salesforce, Google etc. He is the director of ISKCON’s Govardhan Ecovillage (GEV), founded by Radhanath Swami Maharaj. The GEV has won several awards, including United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Award in 2017.

He has enabled GEV’s accreditation with multiple United Nation bodies like UNEP, UNCCD, ECOSOC and CBD. On behalf of ISKCON, he is UNEP’s Faith for Earth Counsellor.

enba was formulated by the exchange4media group in 2008 with the objective of recognizing the best in television news. The awards recognise and honour industry leaders who are responsible for shaping the future of television broadcasting in India. This year, enba is in its 15th edition. The jury will be led by Sunil Arora, a senior bureaucrat and former Election Commissioner of India.

In the last editions, the enba jury was led by Harivansh Narayan Singh – Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Dr Kiran Karnik – Former President – Nasscom, Dr Nasim Zaidi - Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, SY Quraishi – Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, N Ram – Chairman, Kasturi & Sons Ltd., Former Editor–in-chief The Hindu and Group Newspapers, Sanjay Gupta – Managing Director – Star India.