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Tech TV makes airline and Asian carriage announcements at MIPTV
CANNES: Technology channel, which has gone easy on its plans to launch in the Indian market, used MIPTV to announce that it had struck deals with a full channel rollout in the Philippines, Indonesia and the Maldives.
In the Philippines, it is cable distribution company Cable Boss which has done a deal with TechTV to represent the channel in the territory and has placed it on the second largest cable platform, Destiny Cable. In Indonesia, the largest cable operator Kabelvision has agreed to carry the channel, while in the Maldives it is Maldives Electronic Services and J-Sat Communications Maldives which have signed on.
Its programming sales efforts have also borne fruit, the international channel announced. Its sales deal with Japan’s BB Factory for daily satellite-delivered episodes of Tech Live was re-initialled while Spain’s Sogecable, YLE Finland, Tango TV Luxembourg, Studio U7 Russia and even Eagle TV in Mongolia have agreed to pick up its content, said TechTV’s new senior vice-president of worldwide distribution, Peter Gochis. While Finland YLE is to broadcast episodes of felony-focused CyberCrime, computer-animated Eye Drops and gadget show Fresh Gear, Russia’s Studio U7 licensed episodes of Eye Drops and CyberCrime. Tango TV in Luxembourg has picked up TechTV World, Eagle TV in Mongolia will run Zip File International and Spain’s Sogecable has licensed the one-off Tech of Shrek.
Gochis recently took over from Tom Grams, who is now focusing on programme strategy in the new post of vice-president of programming. Gochis also announced deals for TechTV’s news programming with airline carriers in Asia, Scandinavia and in the US. among the airlines coming on board include: Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines, SAS, Finn Air and Northwest.
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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.
