News Broadcasting
Two new Samachar Plus channels to launch this year
MUMBAI: With completion of phase one of two news channels in the states of Uttar Pradesh/Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, the Best News Company plans to enter phase two by launching two more news channels this year.
The channels in question being Samachar Plus Haryana and Samachar Plus Madhya Pradesh/Chattisgarh – both under the Samachar Plus umbrella – scheduled for a September-October 2014 launch.
The current duo has a 600-strong staff with broadcasting happening from Noida and news gathering from bureaus in Lucknow and Jaipur. Incidentally, the Noida office has 30,000 sq ft demarcated for the upcoming channels where the setup is in progress. Plans are afoot to recruit another 500 people for the upcoming channels.
Recently, Aidem Ventures was entrusted the job of handling the ad sales for the existing two channels with corporate companies while local channels would be handled by the channel itself. Brands such as Rajnigandha and Jhandu are already with the channel while others such as Bajaj and Reliance are to be handled by Aidem going further. Currently, ad slots are in the range of around Rs 500 for a 10 second slot.
“The vision of the company is to provide unbiased news, programs based on development of the state and to promote art and culture of the respective regions as well as to bring up social issues that are relevant to the common man,” says Best News Company MD Shashank Bansal.
Investment to the tune of Rs 15-20 crore is being pumped into the up and coming channels while the existing ones are expected to break even in 2015. The third phase will see another channel for Bihar/Jharkhand.
On the distribution end, being handled by a 22 member-strong internal team, the channels have managed to be present 100 per cent in cable while DTH is yet to happen. The two free to air (FTA) channels beaming off Insat 4 are being shot in standard definition (SD) with no plans to go high definition (HD) anytime soon. “Our SD shooting is as good as HD due to our high quality equipments,” says Best News Company CEO Umesh Kumar.
Other contenders in the UP/Uttarakhand market are ETV UP, Zee Purvaiya and Zee Sangam while in Rajasthan, ETV Rajasthan, Zee Marudhara and Samay Rajasthan are in the fray. As to how the company will take on the challenge presented by biggies like Zee and TV 18, Bansal says, “We will provide our audiences with better content as compared to other channels.”
News Broadcasting
Book Cricket gets a digital century on News18 amid T20 fever
Nostalgic classroom game revamped in English, Hindi plus Telugu on web and app.
MUMBAI: When the T20 World Cup fever hits fever pitch, News18 decides to flip the script straight back to the classroom. The digital news platform has revived the timeless schoolyard favourite Book Cricket as an interactive online game, perfectly timed to ride the cricket wave gripping fans across the globe. The reimagined Book Cricket ditches textbooks for smartphones, blending old-school nostalgia with modern gameplay. Once a sneaky recess pastime played by flicking book pages to score runs, the digital version now offers seamless fun for anyone craving a quick cricket fix between overs.
Available in English, Hindi and Telugu (with more languages planned across News18’s network), the game sits within the platform’s fast-growing gaming portfolio of over 20 titles, all built in-house. It joins event-driven hits like ‘Kursi Catcher’ and ‘Result Rewind’ during the 2025 Bihar Assembly Elections, plus festive specials such as ‘Durga’s Astras’ for Durga Puja and ‘Mouse Modak’ for Ganesh Chaturthi.
News18 Digital CEO Mitul Sangani said, “Gaming is a key pillar of our engagement strategy. At News18, we uniquely combine our newsroom agility with immersive gaming experiences. By blending credible content with interactive formats, we are creating meaningful engagement in an era defined by shrinking attention spans and evolving consumption habits.”
Select titles have expanded beyond News18.com to CNBC-TV18.com and Firstpost.com, reflecting the network’s push to deepen user interaction across platforms. The Book Cricket game is live now at https://www.news18.com/games/book-cricket/.
In a tournament where every boundary counts, News18’s digital Book Cricket proves the simplest games can still deliver the biggest smiles no syllabus required, just pure cricket joy one page-flip at a time.
