Joint venture tabloid to hit the capital on Monday : India

New Delhi, Feb 2 - Metro Now, the new morning tabloid that has brought together two of the country's main media rivals, will hit the newsstands Feb 5.

Metro Now will establish many firsts. Apart from the well-known fact that it has, for the first time, brought together competing rival newspaper houses the Times of India and the Hindustan Times, its office is located in the Express Building, the house of the Express group of publications.

Intended to cater to the new Metro travelling class, fast emerging on the lines of Mumbai's local train commuters who have little time and elbow space to read through a regular size paper, this will be the first morning tabloid.

Metro Now Deputy Editor Soni Sangwan promised '48 pages of colour which will be far superior to the existing tabloids in the National Capital'.

The new newspaper aims at an initial circulation of close 100,000 'much, much higher than the current city tabloids'. The two afternoon English tabloids are Mid-day and Today.

Sameer Kapoor, president of the Metropolitan Media Company, the joint venture company publishing Metro Now, said: '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.'

'It's fun, friendly and essentially Delhi,' added Metro Now editor Kamlesh Singh. 'Though the newspaper is city-centric, it will also have extensive coverage of India and the world. But always with a twist. It will be Delhi's perfectly balanced newspaper to go with the perfectly balanced coffee.'