MUMBAI: Not too long ago we at indiantelevision.com were the first to report that the former Disney UTV Media Networks MD MK Anand will be taking over as the new MD and CEO of Times Television Network (TTN), stepping into Sunil Lulla's shoes.
Well, now news is that TTN English entertainment channels CEO Ajay Trigunayat has called it a day. Sources close to the network have revealed that Trigunayat will be shortly moving on from the Times Group and is currently ensuring that the transition is smooth for his team.
The source reveals that there will be centralisation of functions now. While earlier all the functions like - HR, finance, distribution, legal, among other things, reported to Times Now, ET Now and Zoom CEO Avinash Kaul, they will now be directly reporting to M K Anand.
Plans are also afoot for getting in a network sales head, currently for the English cluster (Movies Now and Romedy Now). The network has undergone some major reshuffling. While it has appointed Mandeep Singh as network sales head; Movies Now head of sales for north Arunabh Madhur, will now take charge of national sales for the channel. Not only this, Movies Now head of sales for west Siddharth Chopra has been elevated to Romedy Now national sales head.
"Both these individuals have been around since the inception of Movies Now, which was back in 2010, and have been given the responsibility keeping in mind their commitment and hard work for the network," says the source.
“The idea is to completely centralise the work flow of the network and to get a chief sales/revenue officer and hold fort and report directly to M K Anand,” reveals the source.
On the marketing front Shantanu Gangane will head it for both Movies Now and Romedy Now; and the programming and content team will directly report to M K Anand.
Prior to joining TTN, Trigunayat was in the Middle East in an entrepreneurial capacity, and has also been the business head of the Zee English Channels bouquet, and put in stints at Lintas, Contract and Rediffusion and at Pepsi in a sales role.
But, that’s not all! In another blow to the network, the source also reveals that Romedy Now associate business head Harsh Sheth is on his way out from the network, but will be handling operations for at least another couple of months.
Sheth has been with the TTN for just over three years; first handling the channel and business strategy for Movies Now for a period of nearly two years and then being acknowledged and elevated as the associate business head for the seven month old English entertainment channel, Romedy Now.
Prior to joining the network, Sheth has had a stint with Star India, starting out by working and handling varied Star properties across genres i.e. Star Gold, Star Movies, Star World, Star Pravah and Channel [V]. His mandate was to use consumer insights for scheduling, on-air presentation, distribution, marketing and content. He also looked after content acquisition and development of fiction as well as non-fiction shows for Channel [V] later on. He started out as an assistant manager - key accounts with TAM Media Research and handled clients like Sony, Sahara, Disney, UTV, MTV.
Both Trigunayat and Sheth were unavailable for comment, even after repeated attempts. Both these individuals have been instrumental in running the English cluster for TTN and will certainly be a loss to the organisation.
