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Sun Direct crosses 4 million subscribers
MUMBAI: Sun Direct has crossed a subscriber base of four million, the fastest DTH operator to achieve this milestone in less than two years. Backed by predatory pricing, regional content mix and a heavy inflow of subscribers from the southern region, the Sun Group company has stormed the market with huge volume gains. Earlier, Tata Sky, the second oldest private DTH operator in the Indian market, had announced that it had crossed four million subscribers this August. Dish TV has a subscriber base of 5.7 million. |
Says Sun Direct COO Tony D’Silva, “From the beginning we had clear plans on the value we will offer to our customers; our ‘Think Regional: Go National’ strategy helped shape our approach in different markets. Today we have achieved a pan India customer base and have established a strong brand presence for Sun Direct as a national player.” Kalanithi Maran-promoted Sun Direct is targeting a revenue of Rs 10 billion for FY‘10 even as it plans to double its subscriber base to six million. “Sun Direct is growing at a mind-boggling speed. With low ARPUs, it is mopping up cable TV subscribers in pockets of the country,” says a senior executive of a rival DTH platform. The DTH sector is seeing rapid growth in India. All the DTH operators in the country have crossed the one million mark, including Airtel Digital TV, the fifth and last to launch the service. |
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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.
