Chandra takes over Zee Telefilms, Goyal goes on sabbatical

Mumbai:
17 October 2002

According to a statement issued by the company, “[ZTL chairman Subhash] Chandra will directly provide leadership to a three-pronged strategic direction chalked out by the company.”

The statement further said Chandra will support and guide the core team comprising Apurva Purohit (president, Zee TV channel) Prashant Sanwal (director, Alpha channels), Laxmi N Goel (director, Zee News), Yogesh Radhakrishnan (director, Zee Music and Zee Cinema), Jagjit Singh Kohli (director, ETC brands) and Ajay Trigunayat (vice-president, Zee English and Zee MGM).

Group broadcasting CEO Sandeep Goyal, brought in last year for a reported salary of Rs 1.2 crore, is the latest casualty at Zee — he has been re-designated advisor to the company, and according to the company “will be on a sabbatical for the next few months.”

The company says the move is aimed at focusing “on programming excellence, multi-pillar channel approach built around the Zee TV flagship and building operational efficiencies to drive shareholder value.” Quoting Chandra, the statement also said Goyal brought new energy into the channel and will continue to be available to Zee for any help or advice.

When Star Plus’ show Kaun Banega Corepati (KBC), anchored by matinee idol Amitabh Bachchan, hit household screens across India along with a number of soaps that went on to record unprecedented popularity, ZTL and Sony Television saw their television rating points (TRPs) plummet.

Since then, even as Zee put in tremendous efforts to revive its TRPs, it has been a downhill journey all the way. At present, according to the latest TRPs, Star Plus has the largest number of shows in the top 50 programmes watched in the country, with Sony holding the poor second position.