Applications
Fox News forays into India via mobile; next up on DTH
MUMBAI: Fox News is foraying into the Indian market through Star India‘s mobile application Plus.
Through the partnership, Fox News will provide international news content ranging from entertainment, politics, business, world, health and sports for Plus. |
For further expansion into the Indian market, Fox News Channel has also tied up with direct-to-home service provider Tata Sky. The channel is currently awaiting regulatory approval. Fox News Head of International Affairs Vipp Jaiswal said, “This is the first time that we are entering the Indian market through the mobile portal Plus. We will soon be available via mobile in other parts of Asia like Singapore, Hong Kong.” |
| Star Mobile Entertainment SVP Viren Popli said, “Apart from other offerings, Fox News on our mobile portal will provide un-diluted International news which has a deep impact on India.” On Plus, Fox News will provide news based content including headlines, which will link out to full text articles for users to browse. Plus will be a gateway to the Fox News wap site, www.foxnews.mobi and Fox Business News wapsite m.foxbusiness.com, through which users can access multi-genre international news. Jaiswal further says that soon Fox will be providing audio and video news clippings for the mobile portal. However currently Plus offers only 30 seconds of mobisodes of the daily soaps. Mobisodes are customised mobile episodes of Star‘s entertainment channels available on Plus. |
Star Mobile Entertainment has also tied up with mobile phone hand set manufacturer Sony Ericsson to bring its mobile content services to users of this brand of handsets. As per the tie-up, Plus application will be exclusively pre-embedded in a range of Sony Ericsson phones in India. |
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.
