P7 appoints Chandan Srivastava as national head, sales

It has also roped in Hiren Mehta to head sales in the western region.

Pearls Broadcasting Corporation, which operates the news channel P7, is gearing up to build a strong in-house ad sales department. Till now, the channel outsourced its advertising sales on a retainership basis to generate and drive revenues.

According to industry sources, the channel has roped in Chandan Srivastava as national head, sales for P7. Srivastava replaces Sunil Parcha and will report to Kesar Singh, director, P7. He will be based in Delhi.

Srivastava moves in from Hindustan Times Media, where he was senior marketing manager. His mandate was to acquire and manage key corporate accounts in Delhi and NCR for the HT group magazines Brunch, Brunch Quarterly and Mint Lounge.

Armed with 13 years of experience, Srivastava has worked across sales and marketing, distribution management and client relationship management in diverse industry verticals including HDFC Standard Life Insurance and ICICI Prudential.

P7 has also brought on board Hiren Mehta to head sales for the western region. As part of his new mandate, Mehta's primary responsibility will be to generate revenues from Gujarat and Maharashtra. Mehta replaces B N Srivastav and will report to Srivastava.

Earlier, Mehta was region head, West, sales, of Raj Music, the music channel under the Raj Television Network banner.

P7 is expected to rope in a new head soon for the South market as well.

Industry sources reveal that Pearls Broadcasting Corporation plans to venture into the regional market with a new television channel in the non-news domain. The sources claim that the company is expected to launch a Punjabi channel, either in the GEC or the music genre, in the next two months.