News Broadcasting
TNT, Nascar extend relationship till 2014
MUMBAI: Turner Sports in the US has announced a new long-term agreement with motorsports organisation Nascar to air six consecutive races per year on Turner Network Television (TNT) through the 2014 Nascar Nextel Cup Series season.
In India Nascar action airs on Zee Sports.
Turner, which has been a Nascar broadcaster since 1984, will enjoy scheduling continuity in what will be a 31-year partnership with Nascar by contract conclusion. TNTs new deal begins in 2007 with the June Nextel Cup race at Pocono and includes races at Michigan, California, the marquee 4 July primetime race from Daytona, Chicago and New Hampshire.
Turner Sports president David Levy says, Extending our 20-plus year partnership with Nascar has been a priority for our company for a long time, and we are looking forward to airing Nextel Cup races on TNT well into the next decade. Our expertise in marketing, promotion and production combined with our new schedule will provide benefits to viewers, cable operators and to the entire sport of Nascar.
The deal also includes unique new media distribution opportunities for TNT to distribute its race telecast highlights across the Time Warner family of properties.
TNT, as part of its joint venture with partner NBC, will once again air the entire second-half of Nascars Nextel Cup Series and Busch Series seasons in 2006. That agreement includes the sharing of all talent and production costs. Beginning in 2007, Turner Sports will use its own independent production and talent teams to call the six-race package.
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.
