MUMBAI: Manoj Kumar Pandey on Friday was named as the new CEO of Rajya Sabha TV by the central government. Since August 2017, the role was being performed by Prasar Bharati CEO as an additional charge. Vempati wished Pandey the very best to take forward "India's best performing Parliamentary Channel".

"The highly professional team of Rajya Sabha TV under the able editorial leadership of Rahul Mahajan has set a high benchmark for serious television news analysis and discussion. I hope they will continue with the high standards of excellence in the days to come," Vempati stated.

"It was personally satisfying that Rajya Sabha TV saw phenomenal growth in its digital viewership and subscriber base on YouTube in these nearly 2 years breaching the million subscriber milestone twice over and continuing to grow at an admirable rate," he further added.

Rajya Sabha TV, founded in 2008, is run by the Rajya Sabha and covers the Parliamentary proceedings of the upper house.

Prior to Vempati, Gurdeep Singh Sappal served as the CEO and editor-in-chief of RSTV since 2011.