Applications
Jagdish Kumar new Hathway Cable CEO; Jayaraman made vice chairman
MUMBAI: In a major reshuffle, Hathway Cable & Datacom has appointed Jagdish Kumar as the new managing director and CEO of the company. He joins with immediate effect.
K Jayaraman, who was occupying this chair, moves to the position of vice chairman.
Kumar will report directly to the Hathway board, sources say.
In his earlier stint, Kumar was the president of Reliance Industries Limited‘s (RIL) media and entertainment business.
Before RIL, Kumar had a 16-year stint at Star India where he was involved in several key initiatives including the media company‘s direct-to-home (DTH) venture and acquisition of regional broadcasting company Asianet.
Incidentally, Kumar was on the board of Hathway Cable & Datacom as a representative from Star. Earlier this year News Corp had exited Hathway by selling its 17.3 per cent stake in Hathway for Rs 3.58 billion.
Kumar was also made Star India chief operating officer when Uday Shankar was made chief executive officer.
In his last assignment at Star, Kumar was given the operational charge of Kannada general entertainment channel Suvarna. This was in addition to his earlier functions as Star India president – South.
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.
