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Tribune restores access to DirecTV under new agreement
MUMBAI: After days of allegations and counterallegations, DirecTV and Tribune Broadcasting have reached an agreement bringing relief to millions of subscribers.
Without disclosing the terms of the deal, DirecTV and Tribune announced that the two have reached a retransmission consent deal for the next five years which allow‘s DirecTV to continue carrying all of Tribune‘s local stations and WGN America, Tribune‘s national cable network.
“We‘re pleased that Tribune and their creditors now recognise that all DirecTV wanted from day one was to pay fair market rates for their channels. It‘s unfortunate that Tribune was willing to hold our customers hostage in an attempt to extract excessive rates, but in the end we reached a fair deal at market rates similar to what we originally agreed to on 29 March. On behalf of our customers, we are very happy to close the deal and put this behind us,” said DirecTV EVP Content, Strategy and Development Derek Chang.
Tribune restored all of their local signals and WGN America to DirecTV customers at approximately 9 pm ET.
“We are extremely pleased to have reached an agreement with DirecTV and to return our valuable news, entertainment and sports programming to DirecTV subscribers,” said Tribune Broadcasting president Nils Larsen. “On behalf of Tribune Broadcasting, I want to thank viewers across all of our markets for their support, understanding and patience during the negotiating process”we truly regret the service interruptions of the last several days.”
The agreement comes as baseball season is about to open, and enables DirecTV subscribers to see Chicago Cubs and White Sox baseball on WGN-TV in Chicago and on WGN America, as well as the Mets on WPIX-TV in New York, Phillies baseball on PHL17 in Philadelphia, and the Washington Nationals on WDCW-TV in Washington, D.C.
DirecTV subscribers also will again have access to the more than 700 hours of local news, weather, traffic, and sports coverage produced by Tribune‘s local television stations, as well as prime-time entertainment programming like “American Idol,” “Glee,” and “New Girl,” on the company‘s Fox affiliates, and “One Tree Hill,” “Vampire Diaries,” and “Gossip Girl” on its CW affiliates.
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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.
