Applications
India’s PFT Clear Media ERP suite to help US’ PBS content delivery
MUMBAI: Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology arm of Prime Focus, announced that its CLEAR™ Media ERP Suite has been selected by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to enhance their Network Operations Center (NOC) ecosystem efficiencies and sustainability, with the objective of reducing operational costs for content providers by migrating content delivery, initial QC (quality control) and transcoding operations to the cloud. PBS, with nearly 350 member stations, offers all Americans the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content.
PFT will deploy CLEAR’s Broadcast Cloud and Operations Cloud modules for automating PBS’s complete Direct to NOC file delivery process. All short turn external file-based content intended for the NOC will be ingested through CLEAR, thereby streamlining the member station organization’s process of receiving media across their ecosystem of content providers. PBS and PFT worked with member station Maryland Public Television to evaluate and deploy the system. CLEAR will also manage core operations like NOC-based media processing, initial automatic Quality Control (QC), delivery, storage and external file transfers. The deployment will also empower PBS’s team with a unified dashboard to track the status of business processes throughout the NOC in real time.
“We expect that implementing CLEAR will help us improve operational efficiencies and increase throughput as we move a portion of our content operations to a cloud-based solution,” said PBS Operations VP Renard T. Jenkins.
“Increasing the speed and accuracy of the NOC daily tasks, while improving access and visibility throughout the NOC delivery process is a step in the right direction for us. We feel it will enable us to focus on the imminent challenges ahead such as a future redesign and overhaul of PBS’ entire Media Supply Chain. We look forward to starting a new chapter in our journey to the cloud.”
“We are excited to be supporting the team at PBS as they embrace digital transformation. Tailored specially to meet the content management needs of Media & Entertainment (M&E) enterprises with sprawling supply chains, CLEAR is perfectly positioned to help PBS improve efficiencies, lower costs and better serve their member stations,” said Prime Focus Technologies SVP Chris Ziemer.
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.
