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Metro Now newspaper ready for
launch in Delhi
BY A CORRESPONDENT
February 2, 2006
Metro Now, the joint venture
newspaper from media houses Times of
India and Hindustan Times will be
launched in New Delhi on Monday. Metro
Now is published by the Metropolitan
Media Co Ltd,a 50:50 JV set up by
Bennett Coleman & CO Ltd, which
publishes Times of India and HT Media,
which brings out Hindustan Times.
Metro Now is edited by Kamlesh
Singh. Brought out in tabloid format,
Metro Now will target the metro
commuters in Delhi, a growing
population.
Currently, Delhi has two evening
tabloids - Today, brought out by
Living Media, publishers of India
Today, and Mid-Day. Both have a
relatively small circulation in Delhi.
According to its editor, Metro Now is
targeting a readership of 1 lakh to
begin with. The all-color morning
tabloid is aimed at the fast-moving
urban population, which cannot spend
too much time poring over longish
stories. The Metro Now style will be
peppy and colorful. There will be 12
pages exclusively on Delhi city.
According to Sameer Kapoor, CEO of
Metropolitan Media Co, Metro Now will
not be a tradItional tabloid.
Delhi media space saw a decade-long
battle when Times of India -- which
was till then seen as a Bombay-based
paper -- kicked off its Delhi edition
in the ninetees. Times steadily
increased its Delhi readership over a
long period of time in a long-drawn
battle for mindspace with Hindustan
Times.
However, Times and HT surprised
media-watchers last year, when
Hindustan Times and Times jointly set
up a venture to bring out a morning
newspaper - named Metro Now - in New
Delhi. The move comes in the backdrop
of Mumbai's DNA newspaper planning to
launch an edition in Delhi, besides a
fresh upcoming Delhi daily from India
Today.
Sameer Kapoor is the CEO of
Metropolitan Media company, which
brings out Metro Now.
Apart from bringing together media
rivals Times and HT, the Metro Now
office will be located in the office
building owned by Indian Express.
Said Sameer Kapoor: 'This product will
set new benchmarks in the compact
newspaper segment in India. It is
aimed at the youth, age no bar. It's
the newspaper for the young at heart.
It has a fresh new look and a new
content mix that will revive the
newspaper-reading habit among the
youth.'
Very recently, Hindustan Times brought
out "Mint" a new compact business
newspaper. Published out of Delhi, it
is currently available in Delhi and
Mumbai. The paper aims to become the
second-largest business newspaper. The
No.1 business newspaper slot is
occupied by Economic Times from the
Times of India group.
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