MUMBAI:Come 14 February, and television will play cupid to couch potatoes who wish to spend the day at home.

A battle for the remote control is more than obvious as viewers decide what to watch - romance and love specials and blockbuster movies churned out by various channels or the World Cup cricket match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Channel [V] intends to pull at the viewers heart strings by playing 24 hours of best love songs and a [V] Crush special with the sexy supermodel, Yana Gupta. The channel will play romantic classics like Toni Braxton's Unbreak my Heart, Love is all Around by Wet Wet Wet and brand new chartbusters like Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word by Blue and Elton John and I Need You by Marc Anthony amongst others, all day long.

Interestingly, MTV India will celebrate Valentine's Day rather differently with a showcase of romantic moments, sweet ballads and MTV's Jhankar Beats hosted by VJ Sophia. The one hour special at 11:00 am will include a chat with the movie's stars - Juhi Chawla, Rahul Bose, Sanjay Suri, Shayan Munshi and Riya Sen. The show repeats on 16 February at 7:00 pm and 19 February at 5:00 pm. The channel has also announced merchandise from the movie as prize to viewers who give correct answers to questions that would be asked during the special.

In keeping with the tradition, movie channels have slated an impressive array of movies to suit the viewer palette. Not to be outdone mainstream entertainment channels too have readied special programmes centred around the theme.

Hallmark, will air The Locket on 14 February. The movie which is about a locket that binds together an old woman's past and a despondent young man's future in manners that change their lives. The movie stars, Vanessa Redgrave and Chad Willette. The others movies scheduled to be shown as part of the Valentine Festival include The Snow Queen which will be shown in two parts,the first part airs on 15 February 2003 and the second on 16 February at 10:30 pm respectively. The other movies that will be aired include The Burbs, Then There was one and Uncle Buck.

HBO will kick off "HBO's Valentine's Day Marathon" at 6:00 am . The marathon includes classics like He Said, She Said, For Love Of The Game, The Beautician And The Beast, Grease, Loser Can't Hardly Wait and The Wedding Singer. These top blockbuster movies have been brought through exclusive licensing deals with four major Hollywood studios - Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment (Columbia/ TriStar), Universal and Warner Bros (including New Line Cinema).

Not to be left behind, Star Movies too will run a slew of movies like American Desi, Vanessa William's Courage to Love and David Lynch's controversial road film Wild at Heart with Oscar winner Nicholas Cage .

Coming to the mainstream entertainment channels , Zee TV intends to bank on the success of the Thursday Premiere mantra and will show Revathi's directorial debut - Mitr, as its Valentine Special. The movie starring Nasir Abdulla and Shobhna centres around Indian housewives who live with their husbands abroad and and showcases the identity crises that people of Indian origin sometimes face in a foreign land. The movie airs 13 February 2003 at 8:00 pm.

Also, the music show Sansui Antakshari will hold Valentines day special, for couples. The show which is in a mini series format of four episodes per month, with the final being held on the last episode, has introduced some innovative names that have been incorporated into the rounds are Musical chair, Parde Mein Rehne Do, Aaj Kal to name a few.

B4U Movies on the other hand will be showing the Shilpa Shetty, Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty starrer -Dhadkan.