Star TV restructures top management
In order to ensure complete integration of various divisions of Star Network and facilitate the growth of the channel
In order to ensure complete integration of various divisions of Star Network and facilitate the growth of the channel‘s new business ventures fresh recruitments to senior levels and promotions amongst its top executives have been made.
The CEO Star TV, Peter Mukerjea has integrated Entertainment, Corporate, DTH & News divisions which had been functioning as independent units into one consolidated business unit.
*DTH has been integrated with Distribution and will comprise of urban, rural and international activity. This will be headed by Mr Arun Mohan who will be the Executive Vice President.
*Mrs Indira Mansingh, Executive Vice President will continue as head of News and Current Affairs.
*Mr Jagdish Kumar will oversee Human Resources, Legal, BO&E, Administration and New Business Development as Executive Vice President.
*Mr Sameer Nair, Senior Vice President will continue as head of Programming Star Movies and Star Plus.
*Mr Sumantra Dutta, Senior Vice President will be responsible for Ad Sales and marketing functions for Star Plus and national Geographic Channel.
*L S Nayak, Senior Vice president will be responsible for the same for Star World, Star News, Channel V and Star Movies.
*Mr Shankar Narayan, Chief Financial Officer will direct Finance and MIS functions.
*Mr Yash Khanna wll head the Corporate Communications and will be the Official Spokesman for Star TV.
*Mrs Urmila Gupta, Executive Director will work with the CEO on various investment opportunities and work on strategic planning.
Peter Mukerjea said, "We have some of the best people in business and certainly the best brands so we need to leverage that in every possible way."
Nimbus Communications is on an expansion spree and has set aside RS 2 billion for this purpose. As part of the expansion plan Nimbus will be airing two satellite channels, will launch a set of portals is a JV with IDBI and will be launching new TV software production facilities. To fund all these projects Nimbus would be coming out with an IPO of 30% of its equity. One of the channels would be called Showbiz TV. The channel, as one can guess form the name, would primarily be an entertainment channel. The channel would focus on news relating to films, stars, events and general entertainment. The second channel is likely to be a channel devoted exclusively to women audience.
The two portals which the company is planning to set in a joint venture with IDBI would be focusing on entertainment and e-commerce. The brandname given to this venture is nirvanazone.com.
In addition to the new ventures the company would also be spending RS 900 million to expand its current operations like software production, media marketing and airtime sales.
The Rathikant Basu promoted Broadcast India has planned to launch four encrypted regional channels--Bangla, Punjabi, Gujarati and Marathi. The channels are expected to be on air within the next six months through Insat 2E. The company is under negotiations with Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) for uplinking.
Broadcast India is also in the process of content creation for their forthcoming Internet project. The company also has plans to get in the radio market once the Government reviews its policies.
Murdoch owned News Corporation has a 5 per cent stake in the company which be raised only till 20 per cent as per the Government regulations.
Basu has pumped in RS 1200 million for the regional channel venture and the leading consulting firm Arthur Anderson will work on the business plan. Venture capital funding will be seeked by Basu.
The regional channels will be a part of the Star TV bouquet following the distribution agreement with Star TV.
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