Vaz has been heading ad sales at Star Plus, which accounts for nearly 90 per cent of the network's ad revenues, for well over a year now. He was presented to the team at Star by the senior management today where the formal announcement of the restructure in its ad sales operations was made, informed sources say.

With Vaz's elevation, Star will have a dedicated head of sales for the first time since the departure Raj Nayak in September 2002.

At the time Nayak left, Star India Ceo Peter Mukerjea took additional charge of the ad sales function before handing it over to his deputy, Star India COO Sameer Nair, a few months later.

The other two senior V-Ps --- Joy Chakravarti (heading Star News, Star Gold and Star Vijay) and Monica Tata (Star Movies, Star World, Channel [V], National Geographic and The History Channel) --- will now be reporting to Vaz. The buzz that Vaz would be taking overall charge has been doing the industry rounds for a while now so the move does not really come as a surprise.

A company spokesperson has confirmed the developments to indiantelevision.com.