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Netflix in 5-year deal with Paramount Pictures
MUMBAI: Online and mail-order film rental service Netflix has reached an exclusive five-year agreement with Paramount Pictures to stream the latter‘s first-run films to subscribers in Canada.
The accord will add more than 350 films to Netflix‘s streaming service in Canada, the Los Gatos.
The deal gives Netflix exclusive pay TV rights to the films, it is understood. The agreement will add films including The Last Airbender and Iron Man 2 to the library of films and TV shows that Canadian subscribers can watch on computers and Internet-enabled televisions.
The five-year deal will deprive domestic pay-TV operators such as Astral as well as Corus Entertainment Inc., that owns Movie Central, of the rights to new Paramount titles, which instead now become available to Canadian viewers through Netflix.
Netflix had entered Canada last fall charging $7.99 a month for access to a library consisting mostly of older television episodes like Saturday Night Live and films.
In another move, Netflix is also in talks for online access to the 700-film library of Miramax that includes Pulp Fiction and Good Will Hunting.v. The deal is estimated to be worth $100 million.
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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.
