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DD Direct Plus earns Rs 865.7 mn from slot auctions
NEW DELHI: India‘s public broadcaster Doordarshan earned a total of Rs 865.7 million in 2011-12 from auction of slots on its DD Direct Plus direct-to-home (DTH) TV platform. The earnings from auction of slots on the country‘s only free DTH TV service is nearly twice the revenue Doordarshan expected when it for the first time auctioned slot in July 2011.
Doordarshan had expected to earn over Rs 460 million from auction of 21 slots on DD Direct Plus when it e-auctioned slots in July 2011. It now has 37 private television channels on its DTH TV service.
Prior to the e-auction, Doordarshan earned just Rs 168 million at Rs 8 million per channel. At the July 2011 e-auction, the public broadcaster had received bids ranging from Rs 21.7 million to Rs 22.5 milion per slot.
DD Direct Plus has capacity to carry a total of 59 channels but three slots are currently vacant. The DTH platform carries 19 Doordarshan television channels, in addition to the 37 private television channels including three foreign channels – Russia Today, DW and NHK World.
Doordarshan wants to increase the capacity of DD Direct Plus but non-availability of transponders has put hurdles in its plans.
DD Direct Plus also plans to widen its subscriber base. Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry sources told indiantelevision.com that a scheme had been approved for distribution of 30,000 DTH sets in remote, tribal and border areas of the country.
In addition, 10,000 DTH sets have been installed by DD in uncovered areas as part of the DTH project and another 55,000 DTH sets under various other schemes have been provided to the state governments for uncovered areas like the north-east region, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep Islands, and Pondicherry.
Bids received by Doordarshan in e-auction held in July 2011:
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Amount
|
Channels
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| Rs. 22.5 mn | Sadhana News (Uttarakhand/Himachal), Aastha Bhajan, B4U Movies, Sanskar. |
| Rs. 22.2 mn | RK News (Sadhana), Sahara Samay. |
| Rs. 22.1 mn | Enter 10 music, TV 24, Day& Night News. |
| Rs. 22.0 mn | B4U Music, Time TV, Divya, Katiani. |
| Rs. 21.9 mn | Sahara Aalmi (Urdu), Sahara Firangi. |
| Rs. 21.8 mn | Zee Salaam, Zee Smile, Etc music, 9X, Zee Jagran. |
| Rs. 21.7 mn | Enter 10 Movies. |
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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.
