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You Broadband’s cable TV firm ups Rouse as COO; Neeraj Bhatia quits
BANGALORE: Digital Outsourcing Pvt. Ltd (DOPL), the cable TV venture of Citigroup Venture Capital-controlled You Broadband and Cable, has promoted NK Rouse as its chief operating officer.
Rouse replaces Neeraj Bhatia who quit the company and is likely to join a private equity firm. Bhatia joined the company in late 2003, after quitting Hathway Cable & Datacom.
“We have elevated Rouse to the position of COO. Bhatia has quit the company,” confirmed You Broadband MD & CEO EVS Chakravarthy.
As COO, Rouse will head the entire operations of the multi-system operator’s (MSO) cable TV business, analogue and digital, working closely with partner cable operators.
Rouse joined DOPL in 2007 as head of content and has worked with major broadcasters. He held the position of VP at DOPL before being elevated.
An industry veteran with over 25 years of experience, Rouse has previously worked with Star TV and Zee Turner.
You Broadband and Cable, which holds 36.24 per cent in DOPL, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) to raise Rs 3.58 billion. It plans to invest Rs 850 million in DOP
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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.
