STAR India today announced a series of leadership changes as part of an organizational shift to strategic business units.
Uday Shankar will be Chairman and CEO. Sanjay Gupta, the current COO, is elevated to Managing Director-Star India, and K. Madhavan will be Managing Director-South. Both Gupta and Madhavan will continue to report to Uday Shankar. These changes position the organization to meet its future growth ambitions on the back of a decade of rapid growth.
“STAR India consistently sets the standard for innovation and growth in one of the world’s most exciting markets,” said James Murdoch, Chief Executive Officer of 21st Century Fox. “Uday, Sanjay, Madhavan and the entire STAR India team have built a world-class business that has grown at double the industry rate. We are proud of its success and look forward to the next chapter of growth under Uday’s transformational leadership.”
STAR has established empowered business units each with its own CEO reporting to Sanjay Gupta:
· Amit Chopra, CEO of Entertainment, which spans drama and movie channels across national and regional channels in Hindi, English, Bengali and Marathi
·Nitin Kukreja, CEO of Sports, which includes a leading portfolio of channels under the STAR Sports banner
·Ajit Mohan, CEO of Digital, which oversees Hotstar, STAR’s revolutionary digital platform which recently surpassed 50 million downloads
· Vijay Singh, CEO of Fox STAR Studios, which produces and distributes Bollywood and Regional films
Kevin Vaz has been appointed as CEO of South, reporting to K. Madhavan. The South business unit incorporates all of STAR’s business interests in the Southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
In another first, a pan-India Content Studio will be set up to drive cutting edge innovation in programming under Gaurav Banerjee who reports into Sanjay Gupta.
The Corporate Centre will continue largely unchanged.
“I congratulate Sanjay, Madhavan and the CEOs on their elevation. This is a world class team that has powered STAR to the No. 1 position in the Media and Entertainment industry in India. Now, I personally and the entire team are even more dedicated to the cause of using STAR’s reach in India to inspire the imaginations of a billion Indians. To do this, we need to continuously innovate and disrupt. We have set ourselves a bold growth agenda and these changes will deepen the leadership bench, unlock entrepreneurial energy and position STAR better to deliver on its ambitions,” said Uday Shankar, Chairman & CEO STAR India.
The Indian Media & Entertainment industry is undergoing a profound disruption with the explosion of screens, both television and mobile. With 23% network share, STAR is the leader in the Indian Media & Entertainment space today. STAR’s aspiration is to continue to redefine the future of entertainment, shape a multi-sports culture and build India’s first truly global digital business.