MUMBAI: Zee has announced a replacement to head its flagship channel, finally filling the vacancy left by the recent departure of Sunil Khanna. The network today announced the appointment of Abhijit Saxena as business head of Zee TV.

Saxena, who is currently president - international business, has been given additional charge of Zee TV.

Announcing the appointment, Zee Telefilms CMD Subhash Chandra said, "Abhijit has been with this organisation for a long time and his efforts in spearheading several endeavours to a successful outcome has earned him this responsible designation in the network. It was truly satisfying to reaffirm that we have an extremely talented pool of people in-house. I believe in this new portfolio Abhijit will lead Zee TV into new dimensions with greater vigour and effect."

Saxena joined Zee Network in March 1996 and since than has handled various departments like marketing services, exposure sales and International ad sales.

To his credit is the launch of business operations in the US, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, besides the launch of channels like Smile TV, Action, Classic and Premier. He was also instrumental in the launch of a separate channel for Singapore.

Saxena took charge of international operations when the channels were encrypted. He coordinates with the entire international operations across the globe and handles advertising sales from India for overseas channels and advertising sales from international markets for Indian channels. Saxena also holds the charge for syndication sales.

A postgraduate in Business Management from IMT Gaziabad and an avid sports enthusiast, Saxena, prior to joining Zee was with the Times of India and prior to that with the State Trading Corporation of India