IBF elects Multi Screen Media CEO as president

Television industry body Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) today said it had elected Multi Screen Media (MSM) CEO Man Jit Singh as its president.

Sunil Lulla of Times TV Network, Rajat Sharma of India TV and Punit Goenka of Zee News have been appointed as vice-presidents, while Rahul Johri of Discovery will be the treasurer of the foundation, IBF said in a statement.

The IBF board will now comprise three vice-presidents, instead of one, as had been the practice since the foundation's inception in 1999. This has primarily been done to deal with the growing challenges confronting the industry and for better coordination across different industry initiatives, be it digitisation, regulatory, fiscal and content-related issues or matters pertaining to the industry as a whole, the statement said.

"Last two years have been very important for the broadcasting industry with new changes and technology being ushered in, be it DAS or institutionalising the self-regulating mechanism in the form of Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC)," outgoing president Uday Shankar (Star India) said.

“It is a moment of change and I would expect the momentum that we have generated finds a new impetus after my presidency," he said.

At its annual general meeting in Mumbai today, the IBF also re-elected/inducted Shankar, Sudhanshu Vats of Viacom 18 and NP Singh of Bangla Entertainment. Besides, K Madhavan (Asianet Communications), I Venkat (ETV), Jawahar Goel (Zee Network), K V L Narayan Rao (NDTV) and Siddharth Jain (Turner India International) will also be a part of the 12-member board.

The board further co-opted Tripurari Sharan (Doordarshan), Ronnie Screwvala (UTV) and Markand Adhikari (Sri Adhikari Bros) as Directors, the statement said.