NEW DELHI: Established as the undisputed leader in the private FM space, Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM, India?s hottest Radio station has yet again confirmed its numero uno ?1? position in the RAM and IRS scoreboards. As per the recently declared results for the week 06 of 2009, Radio Mirchi has garnered an impressive share across the four key markets i.e. Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata.

Radio Mirchi?s innovative programming and clutter breaking initiatives have enabled the network to stay ahead since inception. This has resulted in not only huge loyalty amongst listeners but also a loyal base of advertisers who have been able to implement newer and more innovative campaigns through Radio Mirchi.

Radio Mirchi has just launched Dheemi Local, a fresh and melodious take on the afternoons playing a wide array of melodious hits. Hosted by RJs Sana and Neha, this chilled out zone is already generating loyal listeners. This launch follows the highly successful ?Purani Jeans? that has already taken Mumbai by storm - with radio lovers of all ages raving about RJ Anmol and his selection of hits from the Golden Era.

Expressing her opinion on the repeated success, Kavita Bagga, National Marketing Head, Radio Mirchi said, ?Our repeated success week on week is a result of our innovations and great programming. Our programs are not just about great music but also about ensuring that we never lose the listeners through innovative content. The faith that our advertisers have put in us is a direct result of this and we would like to thank them. We would also like to assure our advertisers and listeners alike that our team will continue to operate at full speed to ensure that the best , most innovative and interesting content reaches them at all times.

MUMBAI: Rajasthan Royals, champions of IPL 2008 together with SMS GupShup, has formally launched a mobile community for their fans. Also adding on to this excitement, the team has come up with a plethora of interesting contests across the nation with special thrust in Rajasthan and Gujarat to engage their fans and give them an opportunity to be part of cricket‘s greatest sporting spectacle.

Rajasthan Royals have selected SMS Gupshup, as their SMS, WAP and WEB community platform partner to interact and grow its fan base in India and globally. Through the mobile community, fans can participate on a real-time basis in quizzes, contests, games and win interesting prizes. Fans can be a part of this community by text messaging JOIN RR to 567678 through their mobile phones. Alternately the user can join the community by visiting smsgupshup website.

Also starting this month, Rajasthan Royals has kick-started a variety of interesting contests viz. Royals Diva, Kaptano Ke Kaptan, Boundary Ka Baadshah, Toss ka Boss and Googly-Shugly for their royal fans generating excitement and anticipation in build-up to the IPL Season 2 that commences on April 10, 2009.

Speaking on both the initiatives, Mr. Raghu Iyer, Chief Marketing Officer, Rajasthan Royals said "Networking and mobile community has become a vital ingredient in our lives. In a time when all of us get connected with each other through Facebook and Orkut, we felt that we should try and engage with our fans through this ever increasing popular mode of communication. It is one of the initiatives from our side to bring our fans and the team up close and personal."

Speaking about the contests Mr. Iyer said," It‘s an innovative way to provide fans a tangible opportunity to be a part of the Royals family and also a platform to express their support for the team. Since the opening ceremony will be held in Jaipur this time around, no true Royals fan would want to miss the high-voltage action".

The Categories include The Royals Diva (Face of Rajasthan Royals), Kaptano Ke Kaptan (Official Off-field Cheer Leading Team), Boundary Ke Baadshah (Catch the ball hit by an RR player), Toss Ka Boss (Accompany Shane Warne for Toss) and Googly-Shugly (Trivia Contest on Radio)

These interesting contests and fan engagement initiatives by Rajasthan Royals provides a wonderful chance to all fans across India to get up close and personal with the Royals family.

MUMBAI: The round of 16 at this week?s UEFA Champions League serves up some spectacular clashes of teams and personalities, and it will be live and exclusive only on Ten Sports, the most watched sports channel in the Sub-continent.

The two live matches scheduled for Wednesday, February 25, and Thursday, February 26, are Inter Milan versus Manchester United in Milan and Real Madrid hosting Liverpool respectively. Both matches start just after midnight, at 12:30 am IST.

The Inter-United match will be followed by slightly delayed telecast of the Arsenal against AS Roma, while Chelsea will take on Juventus immediately at the end of the Real-Liverpool match. Both matches will start at 3:15 am IST.

Manchester United, the defending champions and English Premier League leaders, face Serie A leaders Inter Milan in one of the most eagerly anticipated match of the tournament. The two sides last met in the quarter-finals stage in 1999, when Sir Alex Ferguson?s United won 3-1 on aggregate with a 2-0 win at home.

What makes the tie even more interesting is that it will pit Sir Alex against the charismatic Jose Mourinho, the new Inter coach who has already won the title once with Porto, and lost only once in 10 matches when he was manager of Chelsea.

On Wednesday, Real Madrid host Liverpool in the Spanish capital in the first competitive meeting of two of Europe?s powerhouse clubs since the 1981 final.

Liverpool is one of the most successful clubs in Champions League in recent times, and manager Rafael Benitez will hope for good news after their English Premier League chances have taken a beating lately.

Benitez will be praying his inspirational midfielder Steven Gerrard, their top scorer this season with five goals, recovers from a hamstring injury in time.

Since beating Real in the 1981 European Cup final, Liverpool have played 28 matches against Spanish teams and won only six. But their recent away record in Spain is excellent. They have lost only one of six Champions League away games and won three of the last four.

Group leaders Roma, who lost their previous two quarter-finals on English soil (both to United), will seek a change of fortune against Arsenal. Arsene Wenger?s men are on a 22-match unbeaten run at home in Champions League, but are stuttering a bit recently with four successive draws in the Premier League, which has dropped them down to fifth in the table.

Chelsea and Juventus are two teams with outstanding Champions League home records, and it is time for Juventus to travel first. Juve coach Claudio Ranieri is at his old club Chelsea, the club he managed for four years from 2000 and guided to their first semi-final in the competition in 2003/04. Chelsea then reached the last four three times in the next four seasons. They have extended their unbeaten home run in the Champions League to 15 matches, winning twelve and drawing three.

MUMBAI: TIMES NOW, the most watched English News Channel, scales dizzying heights by maintaining its leadership position for 13 consecutive weeks, racing far ahead of competition and clearly emerging as the viewers‘ ONLY choice for English News. This is a one-of-a-kind feat which has not been achieved by any other player in the news category in the last 2 years, clearly indicating the supremacy TIMES NOW has gained.

TIMES NOW‘s coverage of the Mumbai Terror attacks which has been applauded as a case study in responsible journalism has been a catalyst to this winning streak with TIMES NOW garnering nearly double the viewership of the nearest competitor week on week post that fateful event.

Last week‘s viewership data is testimony to the sheer dominance and characteristic mind space TIMES NOW enjoys, with a channel share nearly equal to NDTV24x7 and CNN IBN combined.

Consistent surge in viewership during TIMES NOW‘s unmatched coverage of key news events viz "State elections, the vote on account, Israel‘s bombing of Gaza, India‘s victory against Sri Lanka; the Mangalore Pub attack and the delivery of Slumdog Millionaire‘s success trail" this year has resulted in a clear, distinct news positioning for TIMES NOW and has also established a deep connect with the audience.

Commenting on the channel‘s performance, Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief said, "Incisive and honest reporting, best in industry production standards, and the greatest speed of news has taken us to the pinnacle. We promised to expand our lead, and its great that our viewership is now higher than our two closest competitors put together. People identify with TIMES NOW, and clearly don‘t with the other English news channels. That‘s an absolute, undeniable fact, and the figures only prove it."

MUMBAI: The daughter of talented actor Anil Kapoor and Sunita Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor has carved a niche for herself in Bollywood‘s tinsel town. Equipped with a beautiful smile that can swing a million hearts she is youth personified. One film old and second film on the threshold of release she is also the talk of the town. Delhi 6 her forthcoming film is the hot topic of discussion, and going by the promos of the film Sonam is sure to set the screens on fire. B4U VJ Salil chats with this talented actress on Starstop a show on B4U Music.

B4U STAR STOP is a programme with film related interviews on B4u Music Actors/directors talk about their forthcoming movie, their likes, dislikes and other things and chat with B4U VJS. Stars talk about their personal review of the film and share their anecdotes of their experiences during the making of the film

The debutante of a large film like Sawariya and working under Sanjay Leela Bhansali had put her on a scale with mammoth expectations. She sailed through the film effortlessly, winning rave reviews for her performance although the film didn‘t do well.

Her enthusiasm about her forthcoming film Delhi 6 is infectious. She says the director Rakyesh OmPrakash Mehra is a visionary and an idealistic person; and talks about how comfortable she was working with him. She shared a great rapport with her costar Abhishek Bachchan and states that she could connect with him as an equal and yet he advised her when she got stuck and helped her out.
The portrayal of a middle class girl in the film was a challenge as it was completely contrary to her real life image. She recalls how due to this her director was also reluctant to cast her in the film.

Vulnerable, yet independent and secure she shares a very open and easy relation with her father and is extremely proud of his achievements and the way her parents have brought her up. A perfect blend of youth with values and ideals this actress will go a long way.

To watch this youth icon, and presumably a huge star in the near future, tune into B4U Music on 22nd Feb at 19.10 hrs

MUMBAI: Well known industrialist Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group, spoke to NDTV Profit on the occasion of the ‘NDTV Profit Car and Bike Awards‘ ceremony in Mumbai yesterday. Delighted at being conferred the ‘The Automotive Man of the Year 2009‘ award for his contribution to the Indian automobile industry, Mr. Ratan Tata expressed his appreciation for NDTV Profit‘s initiative to recognize the best auto brands even in the current economic slowdown.

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Ratan Tata said, "Let me express appreciation for the honour you have bestowed on me. I cannot tell you how important this is to me and I do not say that lightly. This is a tremendous boost to my morale."

Commenting on his dream project, Nano, he said, "I think that Nano has been something that was a great challenge, an enjoyable challenge because it involved doing things that people said could not be done. And it has been done (despite) major hic-ups that we (won‘t) go into. But today I think we have overcome that. The car will be out soon and I hope it will live up to the expectations everyone has from it. What stands out as an issue of pride is that a group of young engineers did something that most people said could not be done. They did it as Indians. They attracted global attention for what they did and my role was to only support it and drive it through those critical and unbelievable days."

Speaking on his initiative to nurture a British brand in India, he said, "(About) this Jaguar Land Rover, I think that there were two brands that were coming as brands in their own field. They had become available for sale and we had our eyes wide open. The companies were on the cusps of recovery and were it not for this downturn, we would have equipped ourselves. There is a great deal of technology in those companies and the brands. I think that they can be nurtured to their original glory and I hope we can do that. I hope we can sustain ourselves through this difficult period and thereafter, looking back, people could say an Indian group nurtured the British brands, kept them British, kept the tone of the company, the heritage of those companies and put them back in the world market with the glory that they deserve."