MUMBAI: SaharaOne Television is launching a fresh marketing campaign to capitalise on the cricket hype. The channel, which holds the India-England series telecast rights, will launch the campaign Begums of Indian Television & Badshahs of India Cricket on 1 March.

"Drama and emotions are common elements present in both serials and cricket. Based on this theme, we have conceptualised a campaign which will feature our cricket stars and the leading ladies of our popular soaps," states SaharaOne Television COO Purnendu Bose.

Sahara will run the promos across the network, in SaharaOne, its Hindi movie channel Filmy and news channel Sahara Samay Rashtriya.

"The outdoor and print campaigns will also be unveiled along with the television campaign," adds Bose. The channel is also planning a contest for its viewers, based on the cricket theme.

The network is also planning a few spin-off programmes on cricket. "We have plans to cover the lifestyle and entertainment sides of cricket. Our efforts will be to capture the cricket stars in different light. For example, we may cover parties attended by cricketers," offers Filmy business head Ashutosh.

The touring England side will play three test matches and seven one-dayers in India. The first test kicks off on 1 March in Nagpur.

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