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Mag. My Hue McGowran
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Mumbai (pte035/02.06.2005/13:35) - Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment capital of 20 million people, has seen a passionate newspaper battle unfold over the last few days.
A new New Delhi-based paper, the Hindustan Times http://www.hindustantimes.com , is about to be launched as a rival and competitive newspaper to the dominant English-language daily Times of India http://www.timesofindia.com . Another newspaper, the Daily News and Analysis - DNA - which will be launched in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, in September, has joined the fight as well.
Both newspapers will attempt to break the Time's local domination, which recently issued a tabloid, The Mumbai Mirror, to deflect competition.
The newly-launched tabloid carried a headline that read "Brothers set for hatchet job" - a story about Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan's spat with one of his brothers.
India's burgeoning print media market has had advertisers scrambling for space on the page, particularly in Mumbai, which has become a media battlefield. The Times, which has a monopoly on the market is overcharging, "So there is a market, there are advertisers ready to explore new avenues and there are readers," says Kumar Ketkar, veteran analyst and editor of the leading local Marathi-language regional daily, Loksatta (People Power).
India has the second highest newspaper market after China (93.5 million copies sold daily), selling 78.8 million copies a day. Experts say that it will increase, crossing 20 per cent of the one-billion-plus population in the next three years.
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