MUMBAI: Nimbus has appointed Shashi Kalathil as Chief Executive Officer of its sports broadcasting business Neo Sports. This will be effective from October this year.

Kalathil comes to Nimbus from the Tata Group and brings with him experience from the FMCG and telecom sectors. Prior to this he has served at Pepsi as executive director-marketing and has also had a stint with VSNL.

In addition to Shashi, Scott Ferguson has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer and will be based in Singapore. Within the next few days, Nimbus expects to make more appointments in its sports broadcasting business.

Commenting on his induction, chairman Harish Thawani said, "I have known Shashi over the years as a client (when he was at Pepsi) and apart from his obvious pedigree as a cutting-edge professional, above all he brings with him a level of integrity and values that are universally admired."

Shashi added, "My mandate will be to lead a world class and passionate management team that has amazing depth of sports expertise, to greater consumer focus and to deliver outstanding value to Neo Sports' advertisers and viewers through innovative use of technology."

As previously disclosed, Nimbus shall be launching the first of its Neo Sports channels in the last quarter of 2006. Nimbus is constructing a state-of-the-art production and broadcasting facility in Mumbai's western suburbs and expects to use several technological innovations to enhance the quality of sports broadcasting in India and be ready with interactive services by early 2007.