MUMBAI: As part of its engagement with fans for the upcoming IPL season, Kings XI Punjab has tied up with Indraprastha All India Sports Foundation for its talent search based reality ?Cricket Champs".

The show that aims at providing a platform for budding cricketers to showcase their talent in front of millions of viewers will be aired by UTV Bindass.

Since the reality show is being powered by Kings XI Punjab, a number of players from the franchisee shall also form part of the proceedings. These players would render their view points on player selection, ability, tasks, game strategy, etc.
 
Speaking on the initiative, KXIP COO Col. Arvinder Singh said, ?Kings XI Punjab has always been at the forefront of unearthing fresh cricketing talent. Our association with the venture aims to provide these young guns with a platform to perform. I wish the participants all the very best and am sanguine that we should be able to spot ?real talent? whom we shall help groom for their future cricketing endeavors.?

A total of eight teams from Bihar/Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore/Hyderabad, and Haryana comprising 15 players each will participate in the show.

The fate of these players will later rest in the hands of the public/viewers, who can choose their favourite captain out of the three for each team through national voting.

The team which emerges as the winner would be awarded with the National Trophy and a cash prize of Rs 1 million. Besides, top 10 cricketers would get a chance to get training with Kings XI Punjab players and an opportunity to play first class cricket.

MUMBAI: Youth channel UTV Bindass is launching in February-end a cricket reality show, Cricket Champs.

The show, produced in association with Indraprastha All India Sports Foundation (IAISF), seeks to identify the budding cricket talent from across thecountry; it will provide an opportunity for potential young cricketers.

UTV Bindass business head Keith Alphonso said, ?We at Bindass are known to create path breaking programming and are happy to present to our viewers an exciting mix of sports and reality with Cricket Champs. The concept of the show has a purposive goal aimed at giving youth a platform to showcase their sporting talent. The show will bring alive the spirit of the youth and help promote the budding sports talent in India.?

Cricket Champ is being powered by Bhushan Pharmaceuticals. The sponsors include Akai Mobiles, nexGTv, Koovs.com, Puri Group and Livemedia. Reebok is the Fitness Partners while Aircel has come on board as the Telecom Partners. Pioneer Publicity India is the outdoor partner for the show.

IAISF chairperson Rohini Rajdev added, ?IAISF aims at bringing talent from hinterland to mainland. As an NGO, we wish to create opportunities for those, who have a dream to become not only the Indian cricketer but also the Indian captain, the cricket champ, however, they do not have any opportunity and resources to fulfill their dreams. This show will help them in coming up and showing their talent. The entire country would horn their skill and abilities and give them opportunity to play higher league form?.

Cricket Champs will hold auditions covering 300 schools, colleges and coaching centres across India with cricket representatives like Irfan and Yusuf Pathan, Keerti Aazad, Piyush Chawla. The cricketers will be chosen in two categories: Under 16 and under 22. The West and East zone includes Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Bihar, Jharkhand, Bhubaneswar; North zone covers Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, UP; and south zone has Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Once through with the auditions, the selected participants will be judged on their performances.

UTV Bindass viewers can also participate through voting and the contestant who receives the maximum votes umulatively will be declared as the ?Cricket Champ?.

The winner of the show will win a cash prize of Rs 1 million and the top 10 players will get an opportunity to be a part of the IPL coaching, where they will be coached by some of the renowned names in cricket.

TThe aspiring cricketers can apply through application forms available with the coaches in their respective cities across the country. The form can also be downloaded from the IAISF website www.indraprasthasportsfd.com.

MUMBAI: UTV Bindass, the youth channel from the UTV Group, is gearing up to launch the third season of reality show ?Big Switch? on 25 December.

The show will air every Sunday at 7 pm and film director Rohit Shetty will don the judge?s hat.

UTV Bindass business head Keith Alphonso said, "The Bindass Big Switch format is a path breaking concept with a very purposive goal. We bring to life an experience of change - a change in perception, in experience of transition and a chance at reformation. With its one-of-a-kind twist Big Switch 3 will bring alive the spirit of youth and unearth the ?can-do-will-do? in all of us."

The channel has once again roped in Woodland as the title sponsor for the show.

Woodland MD Harkirat Singh said, "The synergies of both Woodland and UTV blend perfectly with each other giving us the correct platform to showcase our products through its youth oriented shows. Our association with UTV started three years back with Dadagiri."

"The Big Switch is an innovative concept that is hugely relevant to modern day Indian society. Youngsters are encouraged to take control and achieve things, which is the philosophy Woodland endorses. Thus, it is a perfect fit with our brand. We are sure the show will be much appreciated and become popular with the youth which is exactly our target segment," Singh added.

The show will see participation of eight youngsters who get a chance to reform themselves and make themselves worthy of the luxuries without their parents? money. The contestants would have to survive 20 days in a penthouse and would be responsible for running errands, doing household work and even earn a living by doing various tasks. The weakest contestant at the end of every task would be eliminated.

MUMBAI: In its zest to revive, re-launch and repackage mainstream popular music, Saregama India has launched a new platform Saregama Icons Nxt for talented and popular mainstream artistes so that they can reach iconic heights. The company has also roped in UTV Bindass as associates in this venture.

Saregama India business head-music Adarsh Gupta said, "Being a music company, we keep tracking the music scene closely. A year ago we saw that there was a huge gap in the mainstream pop genre as it was not getting its due."

According to Gupta, the newly launched initiative will look for the right talent. "We will service the venture every six months and try to rope in more and more people," he added.

Talking about roping in UTV Bindass in their initiative, Gupta said that since UTV Bindass mostly caters to the youth, Saregama brought them in to join it. "Moreover, who can deny that TV is a big carrier of music," averred Gupta.

Saregama has also roped in YouTube for the venture that has been catering to popular music. "Through this association, we want people to sample the content more and more," Gupta observed.

Saregama and UTV Bindaas‘ search for the country‘s finest and most talented artistes has so far yielded five young acts by the likes of Samar & Sanam, Phoenyx, Nasha, Paapi 4 and The Dhol Factory that guarantee a massive fan base.