MUMBAI: The scene is abuzz with the cricket fever building up as the Videocon Cup rolls out on 21 August. Maxing on the opportunity, Sony Entertainment's movies and special events channel Max (which will air the tournament) has entered a strategic alliance with Aaj Tak for the same.
As per the deal, during the four days of the tournament which will be played in Holland, Aaj Tak will have a special section on their cricket based show - Runbhoomi which will air at 1 pm; wherein Max's commentators like Charu Sharma, Mandira Bedi, Arun Lal, Barry Richards, Rameez Raja, Michael Slater and Sanjay Manjrekar will come on the show in an exclusive interview with the Aaj Tak anchor. On Aaj Tak the special guests on Runbhoomi will include Sourav Ganguly, Arun Lal, Saba Karim, Yashpal Sharma and Madan Lal. When the show will be towards completion (i.e. 1:30 pm, which is also the time the matches start on Max); the Aaj Tak anchor will ask viewers to log on to Max to catch the match live.
Speaking about the same, Max vice-president marketing and commercial Tushar Shah said, "This marks the beginning of a new era in marketing in the television domain. Max is known for innovation, creativity and attitude, and this tie-up is an example of all three are coming together to create a win-win situation for both Aaj Tak and Max."
Also notable is the fact that some time back, Aaj Tak had tied up with sister channel SET for their show Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahi wherein Jassi gave an exclusive interview to Aaj Tak and also for Saaksshi wherein during a scene in the serial, an Aaj Tak reporter was shown and also the protagonist of the show was shown watching some 'breaking news' on Aaj Tak. So while SET already had a working relationship with the Aroon Purie owned news channel, this tie up with Max for the Videocon Cup doesn't come as much of a surprise.
Speaking on the same, Aaj Tak senior manager marketing Rajesh Sheshadri said, "Cricket rules the hearts of millions of Indians. This association is in line with our objective of providing value-added programming to our viewers."
