Sanjay Dhar is executive director, advertising sales, at Turner

Sanjay Dhar is now executive director, advertising sales, Turner International India (TIIPL). This was announced by Soumitra Saha, vice-president - regional advertising and licensing sales, Turner Entertainment Network Asia Pacific (TENA) yesterday. Dhar previously held dual positions of director, advertising sales (western India), handling CNN, Cartoon Network and HBO, as well as the advertising sales channel manager for HBO.

In his new role, Dhar will assume all-India advertising sales management responsibility for Cartoon Network, Cartoon Network on ZEE, CNN as well as ZEE Telefilms' English entertainment and lifestyle channels - ZEE MGM, ZEE English and Trendz. Dhar will lead the all-India team from Mumbai.

"Sanjay's extensive experience in the television industry and excellent track record within the company made him an ideal choice to head the sales team in India," says Saha. In fact, Dhar played a key role in developing and implementing sales strategies for all Turner channels, and was instrumental in growing HBO's advertising sales revenues by 20 per cent year on year, the company claims.

Dhar joined Turner in the year 2000 as director, advertising sales (western India), and was appointed channel manager for HBO in 2002. Prior to joining Turner, he was with B4U Television Networks where he held the position of vice-president, marketing and sales. During his tenure at B4U, Dhar was responsible for planning and implementing the launch strategy of the two channels (B4U Music and B4U Movies) of the company. He also developed the business plan for all-India revenue generation from airtime sales for B4U Music, B4U Movies as well as for FTV and MCM, with whom the company had a marketing arrangement. Dhar has also worked with UTV as general manager, acquisition and sales. © 2003 agencyfaqs!