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Cable digitisation reaches 81%, says government
NEW DELHI: The scepticism surrounding digitisation figures notwithstanding, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Friday claimed that the digital cable penetration has increased to 81 per cent up from 77 per cent that it had announced earlier this month.
The MIB said that the digitisation penetration will be 87 per cent if the progress made by DTH is also taken into account. The DTH operators have informed MIB that 2.7 million set-top boxes (STBs) have been installed in the four metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.
As per the data provided by MSOs, currently about 45,000 STBs are being installed per day to meet the deadline for first phase of digitisation.
The MIB said that Mumbai has been completely digitised with the digital cable penetration standing at 100 per cent. Kolkata has achieved 78 per cent digitisation in cable alone. With DTH, the percentage of digitisation in Kolkata has gone up to 81 per cent.
In Delhi the digitisation percentage of digital cable penetration is 74 per cent and with DTH it has gone up to 81 per cent while Chennai has refused to show any major improvement with only 60 per cent cable digitisation which goes up to 85 per cent with DTH.
The MIB had launched an aggressive campaign in the Electronic and Print Media to take awareness to the door steps of people. The promotional steps include print advertisements in local newspapers, SMS messages, spots on all TV and radio channels started by the Ministry to inform people about the urgency to get STBs.
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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.
