MUMBAI: B4U Music, the leading Asian channel in the UK, will be the official sponsor of The Asian Bride Show 2009 in London this weekend, it was announced today.

B4U Music provides a fusion of Asian and British entertainment to a large audience. The channel therefore has a strong connection with the Asian Bride Show as both organizations carefully reflect a style and audience influenced by the East meets West culture. The network is constantly supporting and seeking involvement in major events in the Asian entertainment and lifestyle sectors.

The Asian Bride Show 2009, which is brought to you by The Asian Woman Group of magazines, is set to be the largest, most enlightening Asian bridal event in the UK. This year the event will take place at the country‘s leading venue for entertainment; the Wembley Stadium. The prominent location reflects the popularity of the event, and the substantial success it has in inspiring brides with innovative ideas for the biggest day of their lives.

With the involvement of major companies all around the world, there will be more than 200 extravagant stands, fashion shows and the opportunity to network and receive advice from industry professionals.

The event will be taking place at Wembley Stadium London on the 24th January and on the 25th January.

Covering two major cities in the UK, The Asian Bride Show will also be held at The Sheridan Suite Manchester on the 31st January from and on the 1st February.

B4U Network is constantly supporting and seeking involvement in major events in the Asian entertainment and lifestyle sectors .Being a official sponsor B4U Music will be a main exhibitor at the event providing visitors with information and goodie bags.

"We are extremely honoured to be associated with such a prestigious show and certain that it will be an innovative and enjoyable event "said Sunil Rohra, Global CEO of B4U Network.

MUMBAI: ESPN STAR Sports, Asia‘s leading sports broadcaster, will showcase live & exclusive action from Australian Open 2009. Sania Mirza advances into a 2nd round clash with Russian tenth seed Nadia Petrova in the women‘s single section of the Australian Open tomorrow at 5:30 am IST at the Margaret Court Arena.

Sania Mirza breezed into the second round of Australian Open with a 6-1, 6-4 win over world number 61 Poland‘s Marta Domachowska at Melbourne Park.

Nadia Petrova overcame a late challenge in her opening round match from Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova to win 6-3, 7-6 (3). Nadia and Sania are levelled at 1-1 with the 26-year-old Russian winning in their previous meeting at the Wimbledon last year. Sania, playing her first singles match of the season after a long injury-lay off, was happy with her comeback match.

MUMBAI: With the economic meltdown, there has been a debilitating effect on property in many major cities.  Keeping in mind the instability and the depreciating value of what was once thought of as the best source of investment?Does property as a means of investment loose its value?? These debates throw up questions like HOW does one search and invest in residential property and how does one guard himself from defaulting real estate dealers.

To answer all the above, in the first segment of this weeks episode of REAL ESTATE, UTVi‘s experts will guide Feroz Shaikh in his search for property in the IT city, Hyderabad followed by a session on quick investment tips for residential property by Shobit Aggarwal from Jones Lang La Salle - Mumbai, a Global Real Estates services firm.

Moving on, the real estate experts of our channel will give details on the best and most affordable options in Bangalore while our expert property lawyer Sujoy Kumar will analyse the case of Anjali Bhardwaj and suggest ways of getting 100% money back from the defaulting builder of the Zirakhpur project.

Further on, the show will also focus on ‘budget homes‘ and will do a reality check on the Vasai-Virar stretch in Mumbai. And lastly, our Architect Sonali Rastogi will show practical yet easy ways of revamping small basement space into an efficient office area.

A must watch for all the people who have been struggling for space and looking for accommodation around the country. To get your update on the essential know-how before you think of investing your precious time and money in buying a house, tune in this Saturday 24th January at 9 am only on UTVi!

MUMBAI: International digital entertainment festival, Digit All Movement (DAM), will take shape in Pune for the second time from February 1st-3rd, 2009. The fest that debuted last year is conceptualised and organised entirely by the students of Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication (SIMC), Pune. This year DAM Fest widens its horizon to include not just digital films, but art, photography, music in the digital medium as also animation and digital gaming.

"The best thing about going digital is that almost anyone with a creative eye and minimal knowledge of technology can express their ideas with this medium," says Shagufta Ahmed, coordinator of the DAM Fest 2009. Last year, the fest received a wide response from several Indian and foreign film makers and digital medium enthusiasts. Some of the industry experts who spoke at DAM last year were filmmakers Ms. Tanuja Chandra (of Dushman fame) and Ms. Bhavna Talwar (Dharm), and documentary filmmaker Ms. Madhusree Dutta among others.

The list of eminent speakers this year are filmmakers Kunaal Roy Kapur (The President is Coming), Dibaker Banerjee (Khosla ka Ghosla), noted documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, K. Hariharan, Ex-Director of LV Prasad Film & Television Academy, regional filmmakers, Bipin Nadkarni (Marathi) and Ringo (Bengali), celebrated film critic Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN, animation filmmaker Arnab Chaudhri (‘Arjun‘ to be released in mid-2009) and VJ-turned-actor-turned-director Luke Kenny (of Rock On! fame), who will screen his directorial debut, 13th Floor, at the fest.

Apart from seminars and workshops by industry experts, DAM 2009 also invites entries for its competitive film (fiction, non-fiction and animation) category. "We expect a substantial rise in the number of competition entries, especially from the Middle East, South Asia and Europe. Last year, we had over 75 entries, from across the world," says coordinator Ahmed.

The highlights of DAM 2009 include mobile phone filmmaking competition, graffiti wall art, Counter Strike gaming contest, open air film screenings, among others. Nearly 500 students and industry professionals are expected to be present on the new 300-acre campus of Symbiosis at Lavale, near Pune. Competition entries can be sent to register@thedamfest.com. The last date to receive entries is January 29. For more details, visit www.thedamfest.com.

MUMBAI: 36 illustrious nominees across the six categories of the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2008, the biggest and the most credible awards in the Indian media have been announced. IBN18‘s editorial team went through a stringent ratifying process to shortlist those Indians who have left an indelible mark with the depth of their vision and helped raise standards with their dynamism.

The unanimous choice for this elite nominees list, they have brought new ideas to the field of governance, won sporting laurels for the country, married social consciousness to business strategies, stretched the boundaries of entertainment, dedicated their lives to a bigger cause and left an unmistakable Indian mark on the globe. Together, they define a brand new India - one which is upbeat, resurgent and dynamic.

Some of the most successful names from the various spheres of life find a place as the category nominees of the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2008:

Category- Politics: Luminaries such as Nitish Kumar, Omar Abdullah, Pranab Mukherjee, Raman Singh, Sheila Dikshit & Shivraj Singh Chauhan have set shining standard in the art of governance with their reaching vision complemented by unmatched perseverance and spirit culminating into the most deserving for this category.

Category- Sports: Through their stupendous grit, relentless hard work and insatiable hunger for glory, Abhinav Bindra, Jeev Milkha Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Saina Nehwal, Sushil Kumar & Vijender Singh & Vishwanathan Anand have made the country proud in a range of sporting disciplines including shooting, golf, cricket, badminton, boxing and chess.

Category- Business: Towering personalities like Aditya Puri, Baba Kalyani, C B Bhave, Ramadorai, Ratan Tata & Uday Kotak have set a new trail through world-class products and management practices, exemplary leadership skills and have the knack for charting growth stories under adverse economic conditions, making them the best suited for this category.

Category- Entertainment: Be it the world of cinema, television, music or the phenomenon called IPL, dream merchants like Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, A. R. Rahman, Avika Gor, Katrina Kaif & Lalit Modi have brought in a fresh wave with their imagination and innovative ideas and have turned life a little more delightful for billions of Indians in the process.

Category- Public Service: They have enriched other people‘s lives through innovative ideas and hard work and made a real difference to the society at large, without ever being concerned for personal fame or gains. The nominees are: Baba Ram Dev, Janaagraha, Madhavan Nair, Maulana Mahmood Asad Madani, RK Singh and Pratyay Amrit &Vijay Mahajan

Category- Global Indian: By fitting their deep rooted Indian sensibilities on to a global matrix, nominees like Arvind Adiga, Ashley Tellis, Dev Patel, Sanjay Gupta, Salman Rushde &Swaraj Paul have attained success at the biggest possible stage. In essence, they symbolise a contemporary and inclusive way of life that mirrors a new world order.

So, get ready to applaud the achievers who - with their unflinching dedication have emerged as the best in their respective fields. Three mechanisms have been set up for the citizens to cast their franchise as follows:

SMS - IOTY to 52622
Call- 505 2622 04 and 12555 26 (for BSNL and MTNL users)
Log on to- indianoftheyear.com
Voting closes on January 22nd mid night

Simultaneously, an electoral college consisting of eminent personalities will vote for their choice. An elite Jury of Padma awardees will then select six individual winners of all six categories and decide who amongst the six will be honoured with ‘CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2008‘.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief, IBN18 Network said, "The procedure undertaken for selecting and short listing the nominees for CNN-IBN Indian of the Year ‘08 awards underlines complete transparency. The chosen nominees are an astute choice in their respective categories and we hope the best win!"

"CNN-IBN Indian of the Year ‘08 awards nominees comprises of Indians whose hard work and achievements in the past one year have earned them applause and acclaim. The elite editorial body had to go through a rigorous exercise to ratify these nominees. We look forward to honouring and awarding these achievers." added Mr. Dilip Venkatraman, Convener - CNN-IBN Indian of the Year and CMO - IBN18 Network.

MUMBAI: IDEA Cellular, one of the leading telecom operator in the country, has bagged the prestigious Golden Peacock Award 2008 for its innovative product, ‘My Gang‘, at the "19th World Congress on Total Quality" held at Mumbai recently.

IDEA‘s ‘My Gang‘?the first ever Community User Group on prepaid, targeted at youth for creating and sharing Identities in the Cyber & Mobile space, was declared the Most Innovative Product winning the Golden Peacock Award 2008.

Receiving the award Mr. Pradeep Shrivastava, Chief Marketing Officer, IDEA Cellular said, "IDEA has constantly endeavoured to bring the most innovative, affordable, and customer friendly services for mobile users in India. The Golden Peacock Award is a recognition of our innovative product and service offerings for the youth of the country. ‘My Gang‘ Community User Group has changed the way the youth communicate and stay in touch, resulting in IDEA‘s domination of the youth segment".

This is IDEA‘s second win at Golden Peacock Awards, having won an award earlier in 2002 as well.

IDEA was selected as the winner under the ‘Innovative Product & Services‘ category after an extensive quality audit of its processes, research and development, and systems. The Award is designed to encourage systemic innovation in organisation to make products and services required in the new century. The key parameter that was assessed includes exploitation of current technology to achieve maximum customer satisfaction at minimum cost. The process of awards finalization included months of rigorous evaluation by a panel of judges from the industry and Government.

Golden Peacock Awards, instituted by the Institute of Directors (IOD) are the holy grail of corporate excellence in quality, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, innovation, training, environment management, ecological leadership and business leadership. They provide not only worldwide recognition and prestige but a competitive advantage in driving business in this tumultuous world. A large number of public, private, non-profit, government, business, manufacturing and service sector organisations participate in this prestigious award.