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BBC Worlwide launches first channel in Brazil
MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide Channels will launch a channel in Brazil for the first time. This will be in partnership with NET Servi?§os, the biggest telecommunications and entertainment company of Latin America.
BBC HD will be available to Net‘s Top HD package subscribers starting on 28 May. This deal also includes a branded VOD service agreement which will provide content from BBC Entertainment and the preschool channel, CBeebies.
BBC HD will offer British entertainment content in high definition.For the first time, subscribers will see BBC programmes never seen before in Brazil like ‘Top Gear‘, now in its 18th season, one of the most acclaimed series from the BBC, sold to more than 198 countries and ‘Sherlock‘.
Global events will also be part of BBC HD in June, beginning with London Calling, a unique season of programming to celebrate the people, music, fashion, art, culture and history of Britain‘s capital city in the run up to the Olympics.
The season will be led by the spectacular coverage from the Queen‘s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.Planet Earth Live, an ambitious project which is the result of over ten years of innovation in techniques and formats at the BBC Natural History Unit and the biggest wildlife global broadcast ever undertaken by the BBC.
BBC Worldwide president of Worldwide Networks, Global BBC iPlayer Jana Bennett said, “I am thrilled that our channels will now reach audiences in Brazil with the BBC‘s amazing output. We will deliver the highest quality array of drama, documentaries, factual entertainment and natural history – the very best of British and the best of British talent, all in glorious HD. I‘m pleased that this has been made possible through our exciting partnership with Net Servi?§os”.
BBC HD programming will be broadcast in English with Portuguese subtitles and a few titles will be dubbed in Portuguese.
Net Servicos programming director Fernando Magalhaes said, “This launch is a reality due to an unprecedented partnership between Net and BBC, bringing an exclusive channel, with the well known and differentiated production quality that characterises the BBC, and that complements NET‘s international content offer. This deal will also facilitate our offering of new contents for NOW, NET‘s exclusive on demand service, that allows viewers to choose the content they wish to view when they want it, with the highest sound and image quality”.
Additionally, the VOD offering will bring NET‘s NOW platform subscribers, programming from BBC Entertainment with reality shows as popular as The Voice (US version) and Got to Dance UK; while preschool channel CBeebies will bring the favourite titles amongst the little ones like Finley the Fire Engine and Waybuloo, among others.
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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.
