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MUMBAI: After Star CEO Paul Aiello, it is News Corp president
and COO Peter Chernin, Rupert Murdoch's right hand man, who
will be coming to these shores to shore up the morale of the
Indian team. Chernin is flying in late on Thursday and will
be in Mumbai over the following three days meeting the troops
as it were.
And in a related development, Indiantelevision.com learns
that Vijay Singh, former CEO of Sony Music and currently Tata
group company Tetley Tea's managing director, developing markets,
has been appointed as Star India COO.
The main agenda of Chernin's visit would appear to be to
reinforce India's importance, as well as to make clear how
the new executive structure in Hong Kong and India (of which
Singh is a key element) will mesh with News Corp's overall
growth plans.
Singh, who will complete serving out his notice at Tetley
by the month-end, is not taking up his new assignment immediately
however. Indications are that he will join Star in the latter
half of March. Singh will reportedly be taking up his new
position just ahead of the departure of Star Entertainment
India CEO Sameer Nair, whose last working day as head of India's
lead broadcaster is 26 March.
Star officials were unavailable for comment on the issue
of Singh's appointment.
As regards the announcement of a CEO, it will be made within
the next one to two months is all that Indiantelevision.com
had been able to garner from industry sources at the time
of filing this report.
With Singh's arrival as COO, and with Aiello holding additional
charge as Star India CEO, the jewel in News Corp's Asian crown
will have gone back to the structure it had before March of
2006 when Nair was COO and Peter Mukerjea was CEO. Mukerjea
exited Star as of 1 February.
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