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Hathway sees opportunity in digitisation delay, orders for 1 mn more STBs
MUMBAI: Hathway Cable and Datacom has decided to procure an additional 1 million set-top-boxes (STBs) to meet the demand for digital cable even as the government has pushed back the deadline for digitisation in the four metros by four months.
This is in addition to the previously planned deployment of 2 million boxes. The leading multi-system-operator (MSO) is expecting a surge in demand in the four metros and, with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting pushing the deadline to 1 November for the switchover to digital cable TV, it wants to be prepared.
Hathway said that over the next four months it will scale up availability of STBs and by infusing additional boxes in the market, it is poised to meet the fresh deadline as well as ensure a smoother transition from analogue to digital for consumers across the four mandated cities – New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.
“We anticipate that there will be a need of 3 million boxes in both Delhi and Mumbai (including multiple TV homes) and we want to have 50 per cent of these two markets. We have already seeded 1-1.1 million boxes in these two metros and are ready with adequate boxes,” Hathway Cable and Datacom MD and CEO K Jayaraman told Indiantelevision.com.
He added that the modified deadline has presented a unique opportunity to reach out to and impact a greater segment of the market. “Hathway plans to procure the additional 1 million STBs to gear up and leverage this opportunity. Therefore in total, we plan to deploy 3 million digital set top boxes across the two metro cities of Mumbai and Delhi. The rush for digital services will peak around the last fortnight of October and we do not want to disappoint the consumers and drive them towards the costlier option of DTH services,” he said in a statement.
Hathway gives a net customer subsidy of Rs 1000 on boxes and the subscriber acquisition cost comes to be around Rs 1,100, Jayaraman said. He added that in case the boxes didn’t get deployed, they can be used in the second phase of digitisation.
Talking about having an edge over DTH players, Jayaraman said that Hathway digital cable is at least 25 per cent cheaper than the traditional DTH players. Moreover, cable will have more bandwidth and, thus, can show 500 channels, while DTH players have limited transponders and bandwidth problem.
He said that momentum is high on digitisation and only in June over 200,000 boxes were shipped for Mumbai and Delhi.
Talking about HD service, he said that the HD offering is more popular in Mumbai and Bangalore and Hathway is seeding around 1000 HD boxes every month at present.
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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.
