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BSkyB net profit up 12% to ?1.5 bn
MUMBAI: UK pay TV operator BSkyB‘s net profit rose 12 per cent to ?1.5 billion in the year ended 30 June 2012 on the back of a successful football season coupled with increase in subscriber numbers.
The satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company partly owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch has seen its revenue go up by 3 per cent to ?6.7 billion. Operating profit before exceptional items rose 14 per cent to ?1.22 billion.
The company said it added 312,000 customers during the financial year taking the total number of subscribers to 10.6 million. Sky Broadband, the company‘s internet service provider, has a customer base of 4 million.
The company reported a 12 percent increase in the number of subscriptions to individual products, including line rental and high-definition television.
BSkyB revealed that it will return another ?500 million to shareholders via a share buyback.
The broadcaster said it had renewed several important media rights agreements during the year including Premier League, Spanish football, British and Irish Lions Club rights.
It had also launched an internet streaming service, Now TV, its second service to complement Sky Go and protect its turf from Netflix.
“I think it has been a quarter and a year again where we‘ve been strong across the board, so our operational performance has once again been very strong. We‘ve seen good growth right across our range of products and services, but I think we‘ve combined that well with further improvements in our customers‘ experience,” said BSkyB Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch.
He also reflects on the impact that BSkyB has on the UK economy, “As a company, we‘re contributing something like ?5.5bn to UK GDP. We work directly with over 4,000 suppliers. We probably account for something of the order of 120,000 jobs in the UK and contribute over ?2bn of tax revenue. So I think our contribution is very, very strong.”
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
