News Broadcasting
NBA gets a regional competitor
NEW DELHI: Even as the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) is looking after the affairs of larger news broadcasters, an All India News Broadcasters Association (AINBA) has been established by regional news players to ensure ethical journalism.
Azad News chairman MS Walia is the chairman of the new organisation, with Total TV chief managing director Anil Gaba as vice chairman.
However, it was clarified that this is the interim committee of office bearers and fresh elections will be held within six months to form a permanent committee.
The other office bearers are: general secretary Tejinder Pal Singh of Patiala based Channel 2, treasurer S K Gupta of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh channel TV100 and joint secretaries Dr Prakash Sharma (Jabalpur’s SMBC Insight Channel) and Amit Agarwal (Raipur’s Channel TSN).
Members of the governing body are: I D Garg (Gurgaon’s Khabrein Abhi Tak), Pushpendra Singh Baghel (Khabar Bharti, Noida), Vikram Newaar (Tazaa TV, Kolkata), A K Sama (Fast News, Rohtak), and Naresh Mehta (Khoj India, Gurgaon).
A spokesperson told indiantelevision.com that a number of Indian news channels had tied up with the government and various agencies to put together a unified platform to look at a collective solution for ridding the industry of the various problems that continue to plague it without a workable solution in sight.
The AINBA comprising of heads/owners of small and medium news channels held its first meeting in Delhi where it elected the interim committee of founding office bearers. The office will be located in the national capital. Currently having about 15 or 16 members, it will soon start approaching other broadcasters to join.
This is the first such association or representative body of regional news players in the country, which will work towards creating a level playing field in the country at par with the national news channels.
Apart from focusing on the problems of the industry, the association will work towards ensuring clean and ethical journalism, work towards curbing paid news and ensuring guidelines for self-regulation.
The association will also work towards creating a platform for news syndication and exchange amongst member organisations, collective marketing and distribution.
The AINBA will also act as a unified body working in conjunction with the government and representing the views, issues and concerns of the broadcasting industry, and play an exemplary role in finding workable solutions.
The current body that exists is the NBA that has 57 news channels including a few regional ones such as Sakshi TV, ETV, Mathrubhumi, People TV, Kairali, Odisha TV, Sun network news channels and others.
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.
