Ajit Thakur appointed as business head, Sony TV

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | Mumbai
Ajit Thakur has been appointed as business head, Sony Entertainment Television, the viewership struggling Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) from the Multi Screen Media (MSM) India stable.

A company spokesperson confirmed Thakur's appointment. The post was lying vacant since March, when Albert Almeida, executive vice-president and business head, Sony Entertainment Television, put in his papers.

Thakur moves from Balaji Motion Pictures, where he was chief executive officer. Thakur would be reporting to NP Singh, chief operating officer, MSM India. He will be based out of Mumbai and will assume his new responsibility from July 1, 2009.

Thakur has the tough task of reviving Sony, which has sunk in ratings to lag way behind rivals Star Plus, Colors and Zee TV in the Hindi GEC space. Sony, in fact, will have to contend with a steadily progressing NDTV Imagine for the fourth spot.

Prior to Balaji, Thakur was with UTV Motion Pictures as chief operating officer. Initially, he joined UTV to head the TV content business, which had lost its way after having led the market up to 2003, when rivals came up with specialised content like soaps, comedies and reality shows. Later, Thakur was moved to the movie business of UTV.

Thakur is a graduate from Hindu College, Delhi University and an MBA from IIM Lucknow. Besides Balaji and UTV, Thakur has also worked with Coca Cola India and Unilever. At Coca Cola India, he handled Sprite and Fanta. At Unilever UK, he was global brand director, Snuggle.