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Digitisation ordinance expected to be notified following presidential clearance
NEW DELHI: Following the approval of President Pratibha Devisingh Patil to the ordinance to make digitisation of cable services mandatory by 2014, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has set in motion the process to put the infrastructure in place for meeting the deadlines.
The ordinance aims at complete digitisation of cable television in the four metros by March 31, 2012. The target date for completely digitising cable sector in cities with population of more than one million is September 2014, while the whole country will be fully digitised by December 2014.
This will also mean an end to the analogue era and customers of cable networks must have a set top box irrespective of whether they wish to receive free-to-air or encrypted (pay) channels.
Ministry sources however said the deadlines given by the Government are flexible and may change. They also said it was possible that digital and analogue signals may co-exist for some time even after December 2014.
The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 13 October cleared the proposal for an ordinance for digitisation of TV services and sent it to the President for her assent.
The sources said the ordinance, which may be notified today or tomorrow, was being brought forward as the next session of Parliament was still about two months away and the deadline for digitizing the cable television operations in the four metros by March 2012 was fast approaching. (Under the Constitution, any Ordinance has to be approved within six weeks of the commencement of the next session of Parliament, otherwise it will lapse.)
The sources stressed that the ordinance was also being resorted to as there was sharp division among the broadcasting and multi-system operators community with regard to the dates, particularly since digitisation would help control the carriage fee. (Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI) President Roop Sharma, who is a member of the Task Force on Digitisation headed by I and B Additional Secretary Rajiv Takru, told indiantelevision.com that three different groups had formed which was creating an impediment to the digitisation process.)
The new ordinance aims to amend Section 4A of the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 as it currently does not have any provision for beaming free-to-air channels through the digital set top box.
Presently, a total of around 116 million homes are receiving cable TV signals from broadcasters and MSOs in the country‘s Rs 200-billion cable and satellite television industry.
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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.
