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Netflix reduces online DVD rental fees
MUMBAI: The online movie rental sector in the US is getting competitive as Netflix Inc. is lowering the price of its two most popular subscription plans by $1 per month. The move is an attempt to help the company gain an upper hand against rivals Blockbuster Inc. The Los Gatos-based company will charge $16.99 per month for a plan that allows subscribers to keep up to three DVDs at a time, with no limit on how frequently the discs can be mailed back in return for another movie. On a similar plan that lets customers keep one DVD at a time, the price will fall to $8.99 per month. The price cuts which take effect from Wednesday match the fees charged by Blockbuster for similar online-only services. With this, Netflix has brought down its price for a second time this year, the earlier one being a $1 cut from two other plans that had previously cost $14.99 and $5.99 per month. The latest price cuts are, however, expected to have a bigger impact on Netflix‘s finances because the price reductions are being made on the two plans that have over 6.8 million subscribers. The company management is expected to quantify how much the price cuts will dent profits in an afternoon conference call scheduled to be held after the company releases its second-quarter earnings. Netflix‘s stock price has dropped 24 per cent so far this year after competition offered from Blockbuster and video downloading services offered by Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. Apart from movie rentals, Netflix also offers more than 2,000 movies and TV shows that can be streamed over Internet-connected personal computers.
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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.
