Trade publisher Banyan Netfaqs, which publishes the advertising and media portal Afaqs, has launched a telecom portal, TelecomYatra (via AlooTechie). Last month, Afaqs celebrated its ten years of digital publishing. Here’s a personal account by founder Sreekant Khandekar. The company will launch two more vertical portals within the next year, Khandekar told Alootechie.

Thanks to the high viewer interest in the ongoing India-Australia cricket ODI (one-day international) series, broadcaster Neo Sports is hiking ad rates by 33% for the remaining matches, Mint reports. The series has so far attracted 64% higher ratings than the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy and 45% higher than the 20/20 format Champions League. Yesterday’s cliffhanger of a match will only boost viewer interest in the series.

Viacom18’s children’s entertainment channel Nick will go blank for half an hour tomorrow between 5 and 5:30pm in a bid to encourage kids to go and play outdoors. “Nick is deeply concerned about the issue of lack of play in the lives of kids and is pulling out all the stops to inspire as many kids and parents as possible. The Playathon is a step in the direction of changing the lifestyle of our future generations forever,” the channel’s general manager Nina Elavia Jaipuria said in an interview to Mint.