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Govt serious on tracking down illegal channels, teleport ops to submit monthly reports to I&B
NEW DELHI: The Indian government is getting serious on tracking down illegal transmission of television channels. In an attempt to step up monitoring of the channels being downlinked to the viewers, all teleports operating in the country have been directed by the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry to submit every month the list of channels being uplinked by them.
The teleports have to report the details of the channels they uplink latest by the 15th of every month. The directive for all teleports comes into effect with immediate effect, and the first list of channels uplinked or downlinked has to be submitted by 15 January.
I&B Ministry sources told Indiantelevision.com that the monthly reporting to it will bring greater transparency and also help check uplinking of unlicensed or illegal channels.
A teleport or a telecommunications port is a satellite ground station connecting a satellite network with a terrestrial network.
According to the ministry directive, the teleports are to supply information about the name of the teleport operator, the STV licence number, the satellite being used, the names of all TV channels, names of the companies which own the TV channels, date of start of uplink, and current operational status.
The teleports were hitherto sending this information every month to the Network Operations Control Centre (NOCC) under the Communications ministry.
"It is less than a year that we started reporting to the NOCC. Now the I&B ministry also wants us to report to them. The government feels that this is a better way to filter out those unlicensed channels who get distributed in India. We have no problems providing such details," said a senior executive at Essel Shyam Communication, a leading teleport operator in India.
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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.
