Applications
DD Direct Plus augmentation to cost Rs 554 million
NEW DELHI: The augmentation of the capacity of the country’s only free direct-to-home platform DD Direct Plus to 97 channels will cost Rs 554.3 million.
The augmentation in the first phase will be completed on 31 March 2011.
The plan is to increase DD Direct Plus‘ capacity to 200 by the end of the financial year 2011-12.
The platform currently has a capacity of 59 channels while it presently beams 57 TV channels, apart from 21 channels of All India Radio. The TV channels include 21 Doordarshan channels.
Earlier, Doordarshan Director General Aruna Sharma told indiantelevision.com that DD was just awaiting the clearance as it was ready with the infrastructure.
DD sources told indiantelevision.com that around 90 television channels by 82 applicants are in the queue for being uploaded on DD Direct Plus. These include some foreign channels.
The oldest of these applications was made on 7 March 2007 while the latest was made on 12 April this year.
Apart from many other channels, some of the applicants include TV24, NE TV Group, Sakshi TV and Star News.
The channels include three foreign channels: Japan’s NHK TV, Korean Broadcasting Corporation and Deutsche Welle. Around ten more foreign channels are expected to join soon.
The annual carriage fee that broadcasters have to pay has also been lowered to just Rs 2.5 million from the earlier Rs 10 million, apart from a service tax of Rs 300,000. However, foreign broadcasters have to pay a carriage fee of Rs 5 million.
Being an FTA channel, DD Direct only has a one-time charge for dish antennae, set-top box and installation ranging between Rs 4,000 to Rs 8,000 depending on the brand chosen by the consumer.
The country has six private DTH platforms that are operational – Dish TV, Tata Sky, Big TV, Sun Direct, Airtel Digital TV and Videocon D2H. After the guidelines for DTH being issued on 15 March 2001, the sector has grown and at present has about 21.3 million subscribers.
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.
