Aaj Tak, the 24-hour news channel, is reaping the rewards of the hard work put in the year gone by. Helped along by events that pushed news channels to the forefront, Aaj Tak claimed a 156 per cent increase in its viewership post 11 September.

Zee Telefilms, which has seen its position in the channel stakes further eroded in recent times and is currently wallowing in the No. 3 position, is pumping in some fresh ideas to get it back on course.

Zee has announced the appointment of Vinta Nanda as director - ideation of the Zee Network. She started working on the job yesterday.

Subhash Chandra, Sandeep Goyal and company are no doubt hoping that Vinta Nanda can turn the fortunes of the broadcasting major around. The network desperately needs new innovative strategies as well as out of the box thinking to get over the fiasco of last year when the big bang launch of 24 shows on 27 August fell on its face.

At indiantelevision.com‘s scriptwriters workshop Qalam 2001 held last month, Vinta Nanda spoke of the degeneration of content in television soaps and programmes. According to her social commitment need not necessarily mean making documentaries, but being sensitive to viewers‘ tastes and thinking about the impact of their writing on people who tune in.

At Zee, she along with her team of 5-6 ‘ideators‘ will work to develop new concepts, formats and on experimentation with new thought processes on Zee‘s channels. Amrish Sethi, ex-creative director of MTV, will join Vinta‘s team later this month.

She had these remarks to make about the new post: "This is a great opportunity for me. It is also a very wide canvas. My brief is to think different, break the mould and create products that will catch the pulse of the viewer, build genres and fiction that entertain as well as engage emotionally. I am happy to be joining Zee!"

Her resume includes writing as well as directing ‘Tara‘ a tele-serial of the early 90‘s. She has over two dozen tele-serials, tens of documentaries and six telefilms to her credit over the last 15 years. In the past she has written serials for both Zee and its rival Star like Sansaar, Rishtey, Star Bestseller, X-Zone. She has also concerned herself with making documentaries and short films on social issues like maternal and child health, drinking water, environmental and gender bias for UNICEF, UNFPA, VHAI, and BBC.

Currently she is the president of Project Smita Society, an NGO started by her to utilise the power of television and films in India to bring about social change in areas like maternal and child healthcare. She is also a Director of Tracinema, a leading software producer for television.