iWorld
Dream Sports’ FanCode to exclusively broadcast ECB’s ‘The Hundred’ in India
Mumbai: Dream Sports’ FanCode has bagged exclusive four-year broadcast rights for England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) new format cricket competition, The Hundred. The partnership between ECB and Dream Sports, the parent company of both Dream11 and FanCode, is a comprehensive sports deal with FanCode as an official broadcast partner in India and Dream11 an official partner.
The action-packed 100-ball cricket competition will include 68 matches played over five weeks starting 21 July. In an entirely new format of cricket, ECB’s The Hundred has eight women’s and men’s teams from major cities across England and Wales. A 25-ball powerplay for each team will allow two fielders outside of the initial 30-yard circle. Each of the eight squads will have 15 players with a maximum of three overseas stars.
FanCode will provide a personalised sports experience to Indian sports fans through many user-first features for all the LIVE action from The Hundred. Some of these offerings include interactive data overlays, fastest ad-free live scores, multimedia commentary, in-depth sports statistics and analytics, real-time match highlights, multiple audio feeds, and much more, the platform said in a statement.
“The Hundred is a new, innovative, cricket competition featuring some of the world’s top players, and we’re excited that fans in India will be able to enjoy the action,” said ECB’s chief commercial officer Tony Singh. “We’re sure it will be a big hit with fans across the globe. As both FanCode and Dream11 are at the forefront of transforming digital sports engagement and experience in India, we are thrilled to partner with them to bring the most comprehensive and immersive sports experience for Indian cricket fans.”
“We are excited to bring The Hundred to our rapidly growing fan base in India,” said FanCode co-founder Prasana Krishnan. “Continuous digital innovation in creating unmatched sports viewing and engagement experience is an important part of our customer promise, and The Hundred, with its unique format, fits in perfectly with what we at FanCode stand for.”
“We are thrilled to launch a comprehensive partnership with ECB for their new and exciting cricket tournament, ‘The Hundred’, with both Dream11 and FanCode,” said Dream Sports’ chief marketing officer Vikrant Mudaliar. “Through this partnership, we hope to drive fan engagement for The Hundred by reaching over 120 million Dream Sports fans in India. ‘The Hundred’ offers a truly innovative format, and we are confident that cricket fans will love this new sporting experience.”
The competition will give equal weight to both men’s and women’s sides, with almost all the matches taking place as back-to-back men’s and women’s matches at the same venue on the same day. It will feature five Indian players across women’s teams – Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, and Jemimah Rodrigues. Cricketing greats such as Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Rashid Khan, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan, Moeen Ali, and Jonny Bairstow, among others, feature in this action-packed competitive format.
iWorld
What SMS letters G, T, S and P mean and how they help spot scams
Small alphabet tags on messages reveal whether texts are government or ads.
MUMBAI: Sometimes the smallest letter in a message can be the biggest clue. In an age where smartphone users receive dozens of alerts every day, the tiny alphabet appearing at the end of many SMS messages can reveal whether a text is official, transactional, service related or simply promotional. Understanding these tags can help users quickly identify legitimate messages and stay alert to potential scams.
Under telecom regulations in India, SMS senders are required to categorise messages based on their purpose. As a result, many texts end with a single letter that indicates the type of communication being sent.
If an SMS ends with the letter G, it typically means the message has been sent by a government authority. These alerts may include information about public services, government schemes, safety advisories or emergency notifications such as natural disaster warnings.
A message ending with the letter T signals a transactional SMS. These are usually sent by banks, financial institutions or digital services to confirm activities such as payments, account updates or one time passwords (OTPs).
The letter S represents a service related message. These notifications commonly come from companies and online platforms providing updates about services or orders. For instance, e commerce platforms like Amazon or Flipkart often send delivery updates and order confirmations that end with the letter S.
Meanwhile, SMS messages ending with the letter P are promotional in nature. These texts are typically marketing communications sent by businesses advertising products, offers or services such as education programmes, fashion sales or loan schemes.
Understanding these simple tags can also help users stay cautious about fraudulent messages. Cybersecurity experts note that scam messages often do not follow these regulated formats and may arrive without any category letter at the end.
While the absence of a tag does not automatically mean a message is fraudulent, it can serve as an early warning sign encouraging users to verify the source before clicking links or sharing personal information.
For those who wish to reduce marketing texts altogether, telecom operators also provide Do Not Disturb (DND) options.
Users of Jio can activate DND through the MyJio app by navigating to the menu, selecting settings and enabling the DND option with preferred filters.
Similarly, subscribers of Airtel and Vi can enable the same feature through their respective mobile apps to block promotional messages.
In a digital world flooded with alerts and notifications, recognising what a single letter means could make the difference between a harmless update and a potential scam.
