Turner Broadcasting, a unit of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), is close to acquiring a “very high level of holding” in general entertainment channel NDTV Imagine, according to a person familiar with the development, who asked not to be named. Turner could buy an 80-90% stake in the GEC, the person…

Indian broadcaster NDTV is in talks with two overseas companies—Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) and Malaysia’s Astro—to come in as an investor in its lifestyle business, according to a person familiar with the development. Today morning, NDTV said it will buy back a 26% stake in its non-news subsidiary NDTV Networks…

Sunil Rajshekhar, chief operating officer at Times Internet Ltd, is leaving the company, according to a person familiar with the situation. Rajshekhar will however, be around for a few months till a new CEO takes charge and will help through the transition period. Dinesh Wadhawan had stepped down as CEO…

Thirty four-year-old Rishi Khiani, who sold his Urban Eye Media to Network18 Media and Investments Ltd in 2006, has stepped down as chief operating officer at Web18. The Internet arm of Network18 has another COO in Joyson Thomas. “Rishi has decided to move on after completing his three-year contract. He…

Nineteen months after it entered into an arrangement with Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) to launch an Indian edition of Fortune magazine, the Kolkata-based ABP Group has set the ball in motion for the launch of the fortnightly business magazine, known for its annual ranking of the world’s 500 biggest corporations.…

Gautam Adhikari, a well-regarded journalist, academic and television commentator, is stepping down as the editorial pages editor at The Times of India effective June 5. He was also group editorial advisor to The Times Group as well as dean at the Times Centre for Media Studies. “I’m going back to…

UTVi, the business news channel owned by UTV promoter Ronnie Screwvala, is in advanced talks with Bloomberg LP for a strategic partnership, according to a person familiar with the talks. A decision will likely be taken by Bloomberg’s top management this week, the person said. The deal, sewn up by…

The Financial Times Ltd, which recently applied for necessary permissions to launch a facsimile edition of the British pink paper in India, is locked in a tussle over its trademark with Times Publishing House Ltd, a subsidiary of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd, India’s largest publisher. The Financial Times Ltd…

Update: An FT spokesperson has confirmed the development. “The Financial Times has submitted an application to the relevant Indian regulatory authorities for permission to publish a facsimile edition of the Financial Times in India and is also seeking associated FDI approvals. We have no further comments at this time,” an…

Two years after media mogul Subhash Chandra first made a bid to acquire the floundering news agency United News of India, and following protracted legal battles and widespread protests that divided India’s media community into two camps, the Essel Group chairman has decided not to pursue the embattled property anymore.…

Wire and Wireless India Ltd, Essel Group’s demerged cable TV distribution company, has undertaken a significant restructuring exercise and has moved its corporate office to New Delhi from Mumbai. According to two persons familiar with the development, the company has laid off 600 people in a significant restructuring exercise, bringing…

Shortly after CEO Ravi Dhariwal clearly told his employees that the times were bad, G. Subramaniam has stepped down as the chief financial officer of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. S. Sivakumar, CEO of Times Private Treaties, the group’s ads-for-equities program, will now also oversee the finance function. Subramaniam declined…

In a markedly different approach from other media companies we have written about this week, Indian Express Newspapers Ltd, publisher of The Indian Express, has decided to confine salary cuts to the very top. Editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta, one of India’s most influential columnists who is also Group CEO of the…

Mumbai-headquartered newspaper Daily News and Analysis, launched in 2005 by an equal-stakes JV between Dainik Bhaskar’s publisher DB Corp Ltd and Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group, will soon cut 30-35 jobs, CEO K.U. Rao told contentSutra. “We have reduced pagination from 42 in July last year to 32 now. So we…

We reported last week that Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd, India’s richest media company that publishes The Times of India, was mulling significant, across-the-board salary cuts. This afternoon, CEO Ravi Dhariwal sent a mail to all employees outlining the difficulties in the economic environment and BCCL’s businesses as well as…

Broadcaster NDTV Ltd has cut salaries of employees above a certain salary bracket by 10-20%. Employees earning more than Rs1 lakh a month will suffer a 10% cut, while those making above Rs2 lakh a month will face a 20% cut. The Bombay Stock Exchange-listed broadcaster, which started life as…

Rajrishi Singhal, executive editor at The Times of India, who writes the Monday Mocha column in The Economic Times, is leaving publisher Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd after a 15-year stint to head up research at Dhanalakshmi Bank, according to our sources. Singhal was the top editor at ET with…

Update: We just learned that Pradeep Guha, former CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd and one of the hottest media executives in the country, has agreed to come onboard as a consultant at INX Media, with a mandate to help run the cash-strapped company for a few months and find…

ET Now, the upcoming business channel from Times Global Broadcasting Pvt Ltd, is close to announcing a content deal with Thomson Reuters (NSDQ: TRIN), according to a person familiar with the matter. Reuters held a 25.82% stake in Times Global Broadcasting, which also broadcasts the general news channel Times Now,…