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No extension on Cas deadline: I&B ministry
MUMBAI: Conditional access system (Cas) will be rolled out in the notified areas of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata from 31 December and no time extension is under consideration, the government said today.
The deadline has been fixed by the Delhi High Court and there is no possibility of it being extended, an official statement from the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry clarified.
“In an application moved by a multi-system operator (MSO) before the Delhi high court for extension of time, the court has already taken a view that no such time extension is possible. The I&B ministry does not have the power to order any extension in the date of implementation of Cas. The transition time to run encrypted and unencrypted channels and switching off pay channel signals in unencrypted format began from 16 December and will end on 30 December,” the release said.
The ministry was reacting to a report in a leading news daily that the deadline for rolling out Cas had been relaxed. “The report is totally misleading and baseless,” the ministry said.
The ministry also categorically denied that it had left open a month-long window after 31 December for implementation of CAS and said that there was no question of any channel being blacked out. The I&B ministry has not filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court seeking transition time after 31 December, it clarified.
“In the advertisements on Cas released by the ministry from time to time in various newspapers, subscribers have been requested to apply sufficiently well in advance of 31 December for set-top boxes indicating their choice for pay channels lest their pay channels are blacked out on 31 December,” the release added.
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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.
