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BSkyB H1 operating proft up 26%
MUMBAI: UK pay TV operator BSkyB has announced that its operating profit for the first half of the fiscal was up 26 per cent to 520 million pounds.
Revenues were up by 15 per cent to 3.18 billion pounds from 2.7 billion pounds in the same period last year.
The company‘s free cash flow was up 44 per cent to 443 million pounds. Interim dividend was up 11 per cent.
During the second quarter, BSkyB crossed the 10 million subscriber milestone. HD reached 3.5 million customers, an increase of 67 per cent over last year.
BSkyB had the fastest broadband growth in 10 quarters with 240,000 net additions. 24 per cent of customers take TV, broadband and telephony.
Sky Atlantic, an entertainment channel, will launch at no extra cost for Sky TV subscribers on 1 February 2011.
The DTH operator opened new contact centers to improve customer service.
BSkyB CEO Jeremy Darroch said the company is cautious on the economic outlook for this year. At the same time, the company is confident in the long term opportunity for the business. The focus is on giving more value and better services to customers this year. A new facility will be opened in Sheffield to expand its network of contact centres, creating 1500 jobs.
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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.
