Given the recent news of Carol Bartz’s departure as CEO, a Q&A with EVP of Americas Ross Levinsohn couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment. He took the stage at paidContent Advertising conference for his first post-Bartz appearance, addressing efforts with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and AOL (NYSE: AOL) to…

Hulu’s first offering outside the U.S. is live: Hulu Japan, a subscription service with “hundreds” of films and thousands of hours of TV. For ¥1,480 a month or roughly $18.50, Japanese subscribers can watch across an array of devices just like U.S. subscribers of Hulu Plus with one exception—Hulu Japan…

Forget iPads and smartphone apps - in India, the real “new media” are basic feature phones. Media companies aren’t letting the market’s relative technological immaturity stand in their way - they’re embracing new opportunities using old media

By Jane Martinson: Elisabeth Murdoch sits down, eyes the voice recorder, and says “I have to be careful”. The head of Shine, the UK’s largest independent producer, and scion of Rupert, then proceeds to talk openly about her company, ambitions, politics and much else besides. It is a performance that…

Geoff Cook is the CEO of myYearbook, a social network built around meeting new people. He also founded EssayEdge and ResumeEdge and sold them to The Thomson Corporation. You can’t go an entire day without encountering Facebook and Twitter – even if you don’t have an account. Whether you ride…

Peter Bhatia, executive editor at The Oregonian, will succeed Sandra Mims Rowe as editor at the 159-year old publication. Rowe announced yesterday that she will be leaving the paper at the end of this year. Rowe has been editor since 1993. Bhatia, who has been a journalist for more than…

At the World Newspaper Congress here in Hyderabad this afternoon, Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) CEO Les Hinton came out swinging against the world in general, as is the wont of every News Corp exec these days. More specifically, against “geeks bearing gifts”, “false gospel of the Web” and “out &…

Fox Television Studios India is hiring Nachiket Pantvaidya as managing director, a person familiar with the development said. An announcement is expected soon. Fox Television Studios is the TV production unit of News Corp.‘s Fox Entertainment Group, and is a leading producer of TV shows globally, alongside companies such as…

Harsh Rohatgi, executive vice president at NDTV Imagine, is leaving the company to join National Geographic Channel as MD, a person familiar with the development said. Rohatgi denied he was leaving Imagine. Rohatgi spent seven years at Star India and was GM and senior VP, content and communication, prior to…

In what is seen as a fallout of ratings performance, Star India has made changes to the management of flagship general entertainment channel Star Plus (via Indiantelevision). The channel’s GM Keertan Adyanthaya will now handle the company’s english channels Star Movies and Star World, while the company’s COO Sanjay Gupta,…

For the past few months, Star Plus, Zee and Colors have been playing musical chairs with the top three slots in GEC ratings, with marketshares of all three channels mostly falling in the 18-22% range. Colors has broken away for the first time this week, with a lead of 7…

Sun TV Network today named Ravinath Menon head of programming. The network operates 20 satellite channels in four southern languages. Prior to this, Menon was an executive vice-president at Star India and headed Star One channel. Star India is a unit of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp (NYSE: NWS).

For investors wondering if there are still any opportunities in media, former News Corp (NYSE: NWS). COO Peter Chernin has some advice: focus on digital and look to developing countries. In a panel discussion with Gordon Crawford, managing director of The Capital Group Companies, at the USC Annenberg School for…

Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) is closing the historic Far Eastern Economic Review in December, already a shell of itself, saying the “continued losses in advertising revenue and readers are now unsustainable.” The company introduced the news with the statement starting this fall, it “will focus on its core publications to…

Star India SVP for new media, Gurtej Sandhu recently told us the company might premier a Star One show online before it appears on TV. They have actually premiered two Star Plus shows on Star Player, the company’s online video platform. On 5 August, two new Star Plus shows—Aap Ki…

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) subsidiary Star India last week launched Star Player—an online video destination that currently features content from the broadcaster’s multiple channels. Star Player’s design and layout is similar to Hulu and Gurtej Sandhu, SVP for new media at Star, told contentSutra that the US-focussed video site is…

As part of its continuing expansion of services focussed on the Indian market, The Wall Street Journal has hired Durga Raghunath, managing editor of Livemint.com. She will join WSJ as editor, mobile services and digital product development, India. Raghunath confirmed the development. She will report to Paul Beckett, WSJ’s India…

News Corp.-owned Star Plus, which reigned on top of the GEC ratings chart undisputed for nearly a decade, has now slipped to the third position, not only beaten by new entrant Colors, but also by decade-old rival Zee TV, which has been playing catch up with Star Plus for several…

Balaji Telefilms Ltd, the Mumbai-based producer of television software, posted its first quarterly loss yesterday. The company swung from a net profit of Rs23.85 crore for Q408 to a net loss of Rs14.62 crore for the corresponding quarter this fiscal. Consolidated net profit dropped 99.14% from Rs95.59 crore, to Rs47…