News Broadcasting
Tata Comm building global cloud-based media platform for VICE Media
MUMBAI: Tata Communications is building a global cloud-based media platform for VICE Media to enable the company’s producers and editors around the world to collaborate as if they were together in the same location. This represents a major shift in how VICE Media’s 5,000 employees work together.
Previously, VICE Media stored its content on premise which made teamwork challenging between different studios.
Tata Communications, a leading provider of A New World of Communications™, has been chosen by VICE Media to build a high-performance, completely cloud-based platform for global media asset management, storage, content contribution and distribution. It will enable VICE Media to capture content anywhere in the world, and quickly make it available to hundreds of editors in production centres in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Toronto and London, for publishing and broadcasting across VICE Media channels.
The new platform is underpinned by Tata Communications’ Media Ecosystem, which offers VICE Media a full set of media solutions. It includes the Video Connect service, which complements VICE Media’s local area network and provides the company with a global area network of video contribution and IP connectivity. With speeds of up to 10Gbps, Video Connect enables a seamless transfer of video files and remote collaboration between VICE Media teams across different geographies as if they were in the same location.
The Media Ecosystem is also equipped with Tata Communications’ IZO™ Cloud Storage, which provides VICE Media with secure, reliable private cloud-based media storage for read-write access and archival of data-intensive video files. Previously, some of these files were stored on-premise which made teamwork challenging between different studios. All VICE Media’s files, including videos in HD, 4K and UHD formats, are also now replicated in multiple private cloud locations around the world in real-time for back-up and disaster recovery. Additionally, Tata Communications has integrated VICE Media’s media asset management and file acceleration tools into the new bespoke platform, creating an end-to-end solution for around 5,000 VICE Media employees around the world.
VICE Media’s offering spans across broadcast and OTT channels such as VICE News, VICE Sports, Noisey (music), Motherboard (technology and science), Broadly (women’s interest), i-D (fashion) and Tonic (health and fitness), among many others. Content on these channels consists of news reports, live and recorded events, documentaries and a wide range of other types of videos.
“We need to be able operate seamlessly across all platforms to reach a global audience with our content,” said VICE Media vice president of IT Ariel Rubio. “To do this, we need a powerful, well connected platform that enables us to collaborate as if we were together in the same location. Working with Tata Communications, we are able to get a LAN experience in a WAN environment, underpinned by the company’s global network.”
“VICE Media’s needs reflect a growing trend in the media and entertainment market, whereby there is a huge pressure to quench audiences’ thirst for live events, big and small, as they happen around the world, and bring viewers enhanced experiences through higher quality formats such as 4K and UHD,” said Tata VP & GM – global media and entertainment services Brian Morris.
“In this high-pressure environment that is being transformed by digital technologies, you need an infrastructure that is completely integrated across media asset management, storage, content contribution and distribution. That is what we are creating for VICE Media, with the aim of empowering the company continue on its path of phenomenal growth in this rapidly evolving market.”
“VICE Media is a new media company using IP-based broadcast infrastructure to achieve greater velocity and overcome geographical boundaries,” said ABI Research VP Sam Rosen. “Tata Communications provides the glue that holds this solution together with IP transport and storage capabilities, bringing content to central locations, between central locations and studios, and feeding the distribution network when assets are ready to publish. The use of IP within broadcast supports the need for rapid support of nascent standards including 4K, 8K, high dynamic range (HDR) and 360 video.”
Tata Communications’ media and cloud services are underpinned by the world’s largest subsea fibre network of its kind, creating an end-to-end, completely integrated solution for VICE Media. Today, over 25% of the world’s Internet routes travel over Tata Communications’ network and the company is the only Tier-1 IP network provider that is in the top five by routes in five continents.
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.
