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No relaxation on digitisation in Delhi, Mumbai & Kolkata
NEW DELHI: The Government has ruled out any possibility of allowing multi-system operators (MSOs) and local cable operators (LCOs) in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata more time to completely switch over to digital delivery of television channels, as has been offered in Chennai.
During the hearing of a case in the Madras High Court, the ministry had said it was willing to extend the digitisation deadline to 31 December for Chennai if all the MSOs or LCOs signed affidavits assuring that they would go digital within the extended deadline.
Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry sources said the extension in deadline offered for Chennai was not applicable to Mumbai, Delhi or Kolkata since the situation in the southern metro was very different.
The sources said while the ministry had signed agreements for digital addressable system with 11 MSOs in Chennai, the largest MSO – the state government-owned Arasu –had only analogue delivery system and needed more time to convert to DAS.
The sources also said I&B Minister Manish Tewari had categorically ruled out any extension of the date in any of the phases, of which the first phase covering the four metros became effective on 1 November. The second phase of digitisation covering 38 cities takes effect on 31 March and all the cable TV delivery systems across the rest of the country are scheduled to go digital by December 2014.
The ministry sources admitted that there would be some differences in the figures given by it on implementation of digitisation or installation of digital set top boxes (STBs) with the actual figures on the ground, but it does not pose any problem as the consumers of these four cities were keen to go digital.
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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.
