The digital assets of the Essel group are being restructured and group company Digial Media Convergence Ltd (DMCL) has laid off around 30 people, Mint had reported yesterday. According to their sources, the company might become a subsidiary of BSE listed group company ZEEL, to "serve as a back-end resource" for Zee TV channels. Around 30 people from DMCL were asked to leave in July, and former and existing employees are awaiting salary clearances. MediaNama spoke to Vishal Malhotra, CEO DMCL on the restructuring, and the state of some of the companys projects. Malhotra took over as CEO of DMCL from Ishwar Jha around two and a half months ago. Over the past three years, DMCL has launched websites like MyPopKorn, Page3Flicks, and mobile initiatives ISee and SunoZee. Malhotra declined to comment on specifics of the Mint article - particualrly the layoffs and the salary payments, but said that there is an equity participation taking place and DMCL will be raising funds. The company has invested in a Digital Asset Manager (DAM), that has been implemented by IBN, which will take the broadcast feeds in and allow quick repurposing. At the press of a button, content can be delivered in multiple formats - mobile, online and broadcast. The content is annotated and metatagged, and the DAM allows a realtime online archiving facility as well as online editing. Malhotra said that the plan is to digitize the content of the entire Zee Group. ZEEL has participated in investment for the Digital Asset Manager,…
