Applications
Digitisation is irrevocable: JS Sarma
CHENNAI: During his keynote address at the third edition of the Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry‘s (Ficci) two day Media and Entertainment Business Conclave (MEBC 2011) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman JS Sarma said, that the world is changing and we are moving to a digitise world. We are looking at everything becoming digitised.
“By digitizing TV, etc, we are taking important baby steps that would lead to faster growth in our economy over the next few years. When we talk of digitisation, we must understand that this is something irrevocable and we must adjust to what is going to come. In the film world for instance, digitisation is virtually taking place. I think Ra.One was released in 1000 screens at the same time, as opposed to the earlier method of taking films on a cycle,” Sarma said.
“Digitisation is significant for broadcasters, the cable operators including MSOs‘ and the government. It enables broadcasters to come up with better means of distribution and gives them better business opportunities and enables them to think in terms of HD and for cable operators it offers the ability to reach out to the people and offer them content of their choice. For the government it means better revenue collection. Better revenue collection also means that you also do not tend to overcharge the industry,” explained Sarma.
Sarma said that he had reasons to believe that the Unified License would come into being and would enable anybody to offer directly all telecom services except wireless.
He said that he knew that cable operator industry is concerned about the non-uniformity of the taxation due to the propensity of the local state governments to tax at will. Digitisation would help improve things, he added.
Speaking about the challenges of digitisation, Sarma that it could probably be done faster than the sunset date because it is not difficult and also it is aided by the National Broadcast Plan (NBP). Trai wanted both digitisation and a broadband optic fiber network in the country which is being realised on ground.
Once there is an optic fiber network, there is immense capacity and an information highway and Sarma encouraged broadcasters to get into this business. Though the NBP was not looking at present at cities, the NBP recommended by Trai called for fiber to home in all cities having a population of more than a million people, fiber to hubs in all cities with lesser than 1 million population up to 10,000 people and node to the smaller towns and villages.
As far as cities are concerned, Sarma informed that in a few months time, any entity, be it a telecom service provider or MSO could get into an agreement with a city government through a collaborative initiative or a public private partnership. Optic fiber on every road would offer a tremendous opportunity for offering services other than those being given by broadcasters.
Sarma said further that people are no longer depending upon one box – the television, but to three screens or convergence. Different types of applications are required, not only in terms of device, but in terms of requirements like financial, knowledge. He said that cable operators should stop thinking that they would be dealing with only TV channels, which would be only one of the mediums for delivery of data.
Allaying the fears of a number of people who felt that digitisation would result in job losses, Sarma said that it would offer plenty of opportunities.
Concluding his keynote, Sarma said that certain issues needed to be looked into. These included getting the STB‘s for complete digitisation.
Samra also assured that by February 2012, there would be some finality about the broadcasters concern about having a ‘must carry clause‘.
Sarma said that we need to quickly and efficiently transform ourselves and if India has to play its role on the world stage and if we have to leave behind a better society for our children, then the status quo need to be changed.
Applications
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.
