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Amid weak economy Time Warner comes out with low-cost cable TV package
MUMBAI: Amid a weak economy, Time Warner Cable has come out with a cheaper option for subscribers who are struggling with rising cable TV bills. The second largest cable company in the US will start testing lower-priced cable TV packages in New York City and Ohio from next week.
Time Warner Cable will launch the trial of a new ‘TV Essentials’ package in New York City with a $39.99 offer and on 15 December in north east Ohio for $29.99 as a promotional offer.
It will officially retail at $49.99 and feature around 50 channels compared with around 130 channels for an average digital starter package at $59.95. The reasons for the reduced price will be the exclusion of higher cost channels such as Walt Disney Co‘s ESPN‘s flagship channels that charge most expensive carriage fees in the cable business. Not in the package are also Time Warner Inc‘s TNT Network, News Corp‘s Fox News and NBC Universal‘s MSNBC among others.
It may be recalled that Time Warner Cable chief executive Glenn Britt had said in July that the cable industry was working together to keep their customers trying to save money in a weak economy.
Cable and satellite TV companies have pointed fingers at network companies for restrictive carriage contracts that force distributors to carry lot of cable networks in the most popular basic tiers that push up the price of a minimum cable package.
One drawback of the new offer is that customers will not be able to buy it as a part of discounted ‘Triple Play‘ or ‘Double Play‘ package that would include internet or/and telephone service.
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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.
