SPH adds Tabla touch

Singapore - Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is launching a new free English weekly newspaper - Tabla - which will will be published by the Tamil daily Tamil Masaru.

Tabla will be available on Friday afternoons at selected locations like offices, banks, business associations and airport lounges. The editorial content includes analysis and commentary pieces, a weekly round-up of news from the Indian sub-continent and Singapore, entertainment features and sports coverage.

"We are excited with the launch of Tabla as it adds a new product offering for the Indian diaspora in Singapore. We want to serve both Indian expatriates as well as Singaporean Indians. We can be the bridge between them, especially as India is now a major player in the global economy and one that has strong links with Singapore. We also want to make Tabla a compelling platform for advertisers keen to engage this target audience," S Chandra Das, chairman of Tamil Murasu, said.

Hitting the streets on 10 October, it will be unveiled a day before the the Overseas Indians Conference or Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD Singapore) launches in Singapore as well as Zee Carnival 2008 happening over the 11th weekend (a cable channel available on StarHub) which Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan is scheduled to attend.

The editorial team will be led by Rajendran Jawharilal, currently Deputy Editor of Tamil Murasu and assisted by Tabla's executive editor Pradeep Paul, formerly of The Straits Times's Life! section.