News Broadcasting
Ariane 5 EC-A ready for Thursday launch
MUMBAI: The launch of Arianespace’s first increased-lift Ariane 5 has been given the “green light” following the successful readiness review conducted at the Spaceport.
The upgraded version, designated Ariane 5 EC-A, is set for launch during the night of 28-29 November, from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.
Mission team members reviewed the launcher’s status, and verified that its dual-satellite payload was ready for the Thursday evening liftoff. The Spaceport’s launch infrastructure and down-range tracking stations also were declared ready to support the mission, a company release says.
The launch readiness review cleared the way for tomorrow morning’s rollout of the Ariane 5, which will transfer the launcher from its final assembly building to the Spaceport’s ELA-3 launch complex.
Flight 157 will mark a milestone in Ariane 5’s development. This will be the first mission with an increased-lift version capable of lofting a payload of 10 metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit.
The release says the additional performance further strengthens Arianespace’s competitiveness, proving the ability to pair up almost any combination of telecommunications satellites for efficient dual launches.
The launch window for Flight 157 opens Thursday evening at 7:21 pm local time in French Guiana, and continues through 8:04 pm.
After liftoff, the heavy-lift Ariane 5 will release the Eutelsat HOT BIRD 7 TV broadcast satellite at approximately 27 minutes into the flight, followed by the French Stentor telecom demonstrator about nine minutes later.
Proton launch of ASTRA 1K Satellite fails to reach proper orbit:
ASTRA 1K, the fourteenth satellite in the ASTRA series, was unable to reach its proper orbit after the failure of the Proton launch vehicle.
The spacecraft was intended to operate at ASTRA’s orbital position of 19.2 East.
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.
