MUMBAI: The Lintas Media Group held its annual conference at the Ramoji Rao Film City, Hyderabad this week. As always, the high point of the event was the internal awards to celebrate outstanding work, the collaborative spirit, and committed relationships.

The coveted Unit of the Year award went to the Idea Collective, based on a quantitative count of 17 measured parameters around financial, personnel, work output and relationship related factors. The runner-up Unit of the year award went to the Kolkatta Collective, which handles accounts such as PC Chandra Jewellery, Amul Hosiery, Eveready, Tea Board, Tidewater Oil etc.

Speaking at the awards function, Chief Guest, Prem Mehta, Chairman, Northpoint Institute of Learning, said that he was glad to be among old friends again and impressed by the growth of Lintas Media Group in 2008, not just in business terms, but also in character. He advised the agency to rate their individual growth against three questions every night - "did I make a difference, did I give off my best, and did I embrace a cause larger than self-interest?" He also emphasized the need for non-traditional media thinking and holistic communication solutions in these challenging times.

Lynn de Souza, Chairman and CEO of Lintas Media Group, while congratulating all the collectives for their outstanding individual and team contributions to the growth of the agency and the brands they work on, and the new business successes, added that the 20 member Idea Collective not only did innovative work of a consistently high quality, but represented true teamsmanship and commitment to the brand. "Sometimes, it‘s hard to say who is from the client and who is from the agency in this highly integrated team".

MUMBAI:Maybe it‘s his new 10 pm nightly show, but whatever it is, Jay Leno has become America‘s favorite TV personality for the first time, moving up from number 3 last year. TV‘s crankiest doctor, or rather Hugh Laurie, the man who plays Doctor House, is number 2 on the list, up from number 4 last year and last year‘s number one, Ellen DeGeneres, is now at number 3. Rounding out the top 5 television personalities are two talk show hosts, Oprah Winfrey at number 4 and David Letterman at number 5.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll(R) of 2,388 U.S. adults surveyed online between December 9 and 15, 2008 by Harris Interactive(R).

More than Two and a Half Men

Next on the top ten list of America‘s favorite television personalities is Jon Stewart, of The Daily Show, at number 6, down from number 5 last year. Then there are two new-comers to the list - Charlie Sheen of Two and a Half Men, and Steve Carrell of The Office, debuting at number 7 and 8 respectively. Finally, rounding out the list and tied at number 9 are Stephen Colbert, down from number 6 last year, and Mark Harmon of NCIS who is new to the list this year.

Some actors are just Lost

As there are three new stars on our top ten list this year that means three people have dropped off of the list, including Fox News‘ Bill O‘Reilly, who was number 8 last year. Also, it seems everyone does not love Ray as Ray Romano; who was tied for number 9 last year. Homer Simpson, who was also tied for number 9, has also fallen from the list.
Different Groups have their own Greatest American Hero, or rather Favorite TV Star
Different groups have different favorites. Men, for example, choose Jay Leno as their favorite television star while women say their favorite is Ellen DeGeneres. Women are also divided among themselves. For single women, their number one is Hugh Laurie, while Ellen is tops for married women.

Different age groups also make different choices. Among Echo Boomers (those aged 18-31) Hugh Laurie is number one, and for Generation Xers (those aged 32-43) it‘s a tie between Hugh Laurie and Ellen DeGeneres. Jay Leno is tops among both Baby Boomers (those aged 44-62) and Matures (those aged 63 and older).

Forget candidates, there are also partisan and ideological differences for favorite television star. Republicans and Independents say Jay Leno is their favorite while Democrats prefer Ellen DeGeneres. Liberals go for the dry political humor of Jon Stewart and Moderates say Jay Leno is their favorite. Conservatives stray from the talk show genre; their favorite is Hugh Laurie.

Just the Ten of Us Broken Down

In this year‘s top ten, there is one predominant group of television stars - talk show hosts. Six of the ten are talk show hosts, two daytime and four nighttime hosts. There are also two sitcom stars and two drama stars.
Methodology

This Harris Poll(R) was conducted online within the United States December 9 and 15, among 2,388 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents‘ propensity to be online. Full data tables and methodology are available at www.harrisinteractive.com

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
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MUMBAI: Valentine is around the corner and the trendy Miley Jab Hum Tum team is all geared to spread the love? Star One is running a unique contest for its many viewers across cities where all that the viewers have to do is to propose in the most innovative way in front of the cool star cast of the show, and two lucky winners (one boy and one girl) will get a grand opportunity to part of the show themselves!!

The adorable couple, Mayank & Nupur will visit Kolkata and Indore (28th Jan) while the cool couple, Samrat & Gunjan will make their presence felt in Nagpur and Ahmedabad. In sync with the Valentine‘s day theme, the contestants will be asked to ‘propose‘ in the most innovative way, the two that impress that judges the most will be flown down to Mumbai where they will be specially groomed and then be part of the show. These special episodes with the contestants will air in the Valentine‘s week, 16th Feb to 19th Feb.

Speaking on the occasion, Ravi Menon, Executive VP & General Manager, Star One, said. "Most of the young TV audience identify with Star One storylines in a big way. They find a lot of common space to share with our characters. This is especially true with Mile Jab Hum Tum since it‘s a frothy true to life campus love story. Our attempt, through this Valentines‘ Day special contest and celebrations is to establish those connect points further deep by giving a life time opportunity to everyone to come and live the life of their favorite characters in their favorite daily soap for a week. This is undoubtedly interactive television at its best."

Miley Jab Hum Tum produced by Sunshine in association with Endemol, revolves around the lives of 6 college goers, Samrat played by Mohit Sehgal, Gunjan by Sanaya, Nupur by Rati, Mayank by Arjun Bijlani, Dia by Navina Bole and Uday by Jas Karan. Set against a vibrant and young backdrop, Miley Jab Hum Tum showcases the spectacular journey of 6 young people, their anxieties, their insecurities, their apprehensions to fit in the college crowd. Join the gang and their lives, their insecurities, their friendship, peer pressure, love, heartbreaks.

MUMBAI: The latest weekday prime time offering from STAR Plus - Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, in the 21.30 slot is the best primetime fiction launch in the last three years, garnering an average of 5.6 TVR. The launch episode on Monday, December 12, 2008 delivered a whopping 7.9 TVR, in a seamless transition from Bidaai. The launch episode reached out to more than 14 million viewers and by the end of the week about 30 million viewers had viewed the original episodes of Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai.

Produced by Rajan Shahi‘s Director‘s Kut, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai is a story of love finding its way after an arranged marriage and how two people bond and blossom together after entering into sacred ties of matrimony. In a recent country-wide marketing activation for Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, more than 1000 married couples from across the country sent in their entries from Delhi, Ahmedabad, Indore, Lucknow, Ludhiana and Mumbai to test the strength of their bond, love quotient, commitment and involvement.

In a magnificent finale of this activation, 50 lucky couples re-experienced the magic of their wedding day, perhaps in greater splendor, at a renewal of vows ceremony at the exotic gardens of Taj Rambagh Palace in Jaipur.

Tune in to Dabur Vatika Hair Oil presents ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai‘, every Monday-Friday at 9.30 pm, only on STAR Plus.

MUMBAI: FBR Open, considered by many as the most well-attended golf tournament in the world, and hence the biggest event across the globe, will be available live and exclusive on Ten Sports, the most watched sports channel in the Sub-continent.

Played at the TPC Scottsdale in Scottsdale , Arizona , the $6 million FBR Open was attended by more than 5,38,000 fans last year ? which is more than any of the four Majors, or the World Golf Championship events.

And the organisers encourage the crowd to be boisterous and voluble ? except when the players are in the process of hitting shots ? and the resultant atmosphere is one of the most electric sights in the game. The par-3 16th hole, with its natural amphitheatre-like setting, attracts more than 30,000 people around that hole, which is often called ‘the loudest hole in golf‘.

Live telecast of FBR Open on Ten Sports starts with the first round coverage on Friday early morning ? from 4:30 AM IST.

While big-hitting American Ryder Cup star JB Holmes is the defending champion at FBR, four of the top-10 golfers in the world will be in action ? Phil Mickelson (4), Geoff Ogilvy (6), Anthony Kim (9) and Camilo Villegas (10).

Mickelson traditionally makes his New Year start at the FBR Open and he is also a two-time champion here, having won the tournament in 2005 and 1996.

MUMBAI: BIG Pictures, the motion pictures brand from Reliance Big Entertainment Ltd, brings two enthralling films back to back this March 2009. The suspense thriller ‘Sikandar‘ starring Parzaan Dastur (of ‘Parzania‘ fame) and Ayesha Kapoor (of ‘Black‘ fame) and the supernatural thriller ‘13B‘ starring R. Madhavan and Neetu Chandra, the first look of which would be unveiled with ‘Luck By Chance‘, the directorial debut of Zoya Akhtar asserted to be released worldwide on 30th January, 2009. BIG Pictures has a slate of 18 films for 2009 of which the three films above are planned for release in the first quarter.

Ecstatic about this New Year‘s slate Rajesh Sawhney, President, Reliance Big Entertainment assured ?"This year BIG is bringing a variety of cinematic flavours on to celluloid. Beginning with ‘Luck By Chance‘ based about slice of life from Bollywood, followed by ‘Sikandar‘ and ‘13B‘ to hit the theatres this March which will take suspense and thrillers to a whole new level. We have tried to bring in diverse directors, new actors and interesting mix of genres to entice all kinds of audiences in our slate."

‘13B‘, a supernatural thriller is about a middle class youth Manohar and his family living on the 13th floor. The new television show is dissonantly similar to their family and as the show progresses all the happenings in the show takes place in the family too. The film is directed by National Award winning director Vikram K. Kumar. The film has R. Madhavan and Neetu Chandra in the lead roles and Sachin Khedekar, Murali Sharma and Poonam Dhillon as the supporting star cast.

Directed by Piyush Jha ‘Sikandar‘ on the other hand is a suspense thriller. The story of a 14 year old schoolboy Sikander living in Kashmir with his uncle and aunt. One day, on his way home from a school football match, Sikandar finds a gun lying on the path which changes his life forever. ‘Sikandar‘ is a story about friendship, power, loyalty and triumph. Parzaan Dastur takes on the role of Sikandar after his heart wrenching performance in ‘Parzania‘ and IIFA award winner for her exceptional performance in the film ‘Black‘, Ayesha Kapoor plays his conscience keeper. Also has R. Madhavan and Sanjay Suri playing pivotal characters in the film.

After the tremendous response for Ghajini and Rock ON in 2008, this year BIG has 18 films stocked up in seven different languages catering to all sorts of audiences, national and international. BIG Pictures is working with a mix bag of directorial talent range from mavericks like Vidhu Vinod Chopra, David Dhawan, Shyam Bengal, Sudhir Mishra and Madhur Bhandarkar to visionaries like Farhan Akhtar and Abhinay Deo along with a fresh pool of budding talent like Zoya Aktar, Piyush Jha, Vikram.