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Airtel Digital TV slips into operating loss after 4 quarters of profit
MUMBAI: Airtel Digital TV, the direct-to-home (DTH) business of telecom major Bharti Airtel, has slipped into operating loss for the three months through June, after four straight quarters of profit.
The DTH operator‘s operating loss for the fiscal-first quarter was Rs 23 million compared to operating profit of Rs 209 million in the trailing quarter. In the three successive quarters beginning April-June 2011, the company had reported operating profits of Rs 50 million, Rs 116 million and Rs 90 million.
The company has apparently changed the procedure for how it accounts for the content cost.
Airtel Digital TV added 172,000 net subscribers during the quarter ended 30 June 2012, representing 8 per cent growth from the trailing quarter, but monthly churn climbed to 1.7 per cent, from 1.2 per cent.
The company‘s customer base stood at 7.4 net million customers. Market leader Dish TV, the first to launch DTH services in India, has 9.8 million net subscribers while its churn is 1 per cent for the fiscal first quarter (from 1.1 per cent in exit quarter of FY‘12).
Airtel Digital TV‘s ARPU (average revenue per user) stayed flat at Rs 166, higher than Dish TV‘s Rs 156 (despite rising from Rs 151 in trailing quarter).
The company‘s loss before interest and tax jumped 16.49 per cent to Rs 2.26 billion for the first quarter ended 30 June compared to a loss of Rs 1.94 billion in the preceding quarter.
Airtel Digital TV‘s revenue during the quarter remained flat at Rs 3.65 billion, representing a change of 2.56 per cent from the earlier quarter. Revenue for the year-ago period was Rs 2.93 billion.
During the quarter, the company incurred a capital expenditure of Rs 3.24 billion in digital TV services, up from Rs 981 million in the preceding quarter. In the previous fiscal, the capex stood at Rs 3.01 billion.
As of 30 June 2012, Airtel‘s cumulative investment on the digital TV services stood at Rs 35.40 billion, up from Rs 32.98 billion in the preceding quarter. In the corresponding fiscal, the cumulative investments was Rs 29.29 billion.
During the quarter, the company expanded its footprint to 616 districts, up from 609 districts in the earlier quarter, covering 96 per cent of the populace.
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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.
