IBDF president race becomes intriguing as Punit Goenka loses Zee directorship

New Delhi: The race for the IBDF president post turned more intriguing after the proposal to reappoint Punit Goenka as director of Zee Entertainment was defeated by the shareholders at the annual general meeting held on Thursday.

M&E industry observers told BestMediaInfo.com that the latest development will weaken Goenka’s prospect as a probable candidate to lead the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation, the apex body of television broadcasters.

Soon after Goenka urged the Zee Board last week to allow him to step down as Managing Director to focus entirely on his operational responsibilities as CEO, it was speculated that he might refrain from taking any additional burden to lead the industry body.

In a report titled “Race to IBDF president heats up as Disney Star, Viacom18 become JioStar”, a media observer told BestMediaInfo.com, “With Punit Goenka relinquishing as MD to focus on the CEO role after targets set by the ZEEL Board, he may refrain from taking any additional responsibility. SPNI CEO Gaurav Banerjee is another contender for IBDF president besides a nominee from JioStar.”

When asked in the context of Thursday’s development, the media observer added that it will indeed be a negative for Goenka’s candidature if at all he chooses to contest.

“I don’t think he will take a chance and push his candidature for IBDF president. There may be a ‘fear factor’,” the media observer added. 

Another industry veteran who did not want to be named said that the ability to influence government policies and own fraternity is a prerequisite for a person leading an industry body like IBDF. 

“Any industry body leader is expected to be of exceptional leadership with no negative factor hanging over his/her head but in the case of Punit, that cannot be said as his own shareholders didn’t want him to have any say in the affairs of running his own company. If Punit heads IBDF it will be difficult for the Ministry or regulator to engage him as the President of IBDF,” he explained.

“In the new scenario where Goenka and his father Dr Subhash Chandra are not on the Board for the first time, there may be a negative impact on the influence needed for the role,” the industry veteran said.

As per the IBDF website, Goenka currently represents Zee Media on the IBDF Board, while Ashish Sehgal, Chief Growth Officer—Digital and Broadcast Revenue, ZEEL, represents Zee Entertainment.

Goenka was appointed as the regular Director of the IBDF Board as a representative of Zee Media in 2022.

“No person representing a news broadcaster has ever headed the IBDF. The news genre already has its own industry bodies – NBDA and NBF. He will have to swap the company he is representing with Sehgal to be eligible for the IBDF presidency. But in this case, there may be a moral deterrence after Zee shareholders did not repose faith in him to continue as a director,” a senior broadcast executive said.

Race to IBDF presidency

There are twelve members of the IBDF Board out of which up to 25% could be from the news genre. The three members from the news genre are: India Today Group Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie, India TV Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma and Network18 MD & Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi.

Among the general entertainment players, the four top broadcasters have two seats each on the IBDF Board.

Zee as a Group has two positions on the IBDF Board of Directors, one each from Zee Entertainment and Zee Media.

Star, Sony and Viacom18 had two positions each.

Before the merger, Star India had three voting members: Star India Private Limited, Disney Broadcasting, and NGC Networks. 

With the merger of Disney Star and Viacom18, JioStar is likely to be treated as one entity reducing the voting members, unless the industry body changes its charter.