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High Court stays on proposal to auction cable TV licence
MUMBAI: Haryana cable operators and cable operators all over the country must be heaving a sigh of relief.
The Chandigarh High Court today granted a stay on a proposal by the Haryana government to auction cable TV in the state.
A consortium of cable operators had taken the Haryana government to court seeking redressal following a notice issued by it calling for applicants for auction of cable TV licences for three years in the state.
Says Cable Operators Federation of India president Roop Sharma (who lobbied with the government on behalf of the consortium),”The notice was sent out by the Haryana government in August and we got to know of it only in November and since then we have been representing to MIB minister Ambika Soni, Haryana CM Bhupinder Hooda, Navin Jindal and urban minister Shailaja. A cable operator in Hansi (a small town in Haryana) was sent an order to take down his cables – which was signaling that the government was meaning business. With this letter in hand we pleaded with the court , and the court granted a stay.”
Sharma says that close to 1000 independent cable operators have built the cable TV infrastructure in the state over the past two decades and leaving them out of the auctioning process would have been killing for more than 200,000 people employed in the cable TV trade in Haryana. Additionally, cable TV is a central subject and no state has the right to auction licences unless it is mandated by the central government to do so.
For those in cable TV trade, it is a victory for the sector. For other players who have been waiting for some order to come into cable TV it is a blow. “If auctioning of cable TV is a central subject, it’s about time the government in New Delhi draws up a plan to license nationally,” says a private equity fund manager. “Hundreds of millions of dollars will flow into cable TV if the central government regularizes this sector.”
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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.
