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Casbaa makes key level appointments
MUMBAI: The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (Casbaa) has appointed Christopher Slaughter as its chief executive officer designate. The incumbent CEO Simon Twiston Davies will continue and work with the new CASBAA management team until 31 December.
Also, John Medeiros will be promoted to the new role of chief policy officer and will become senior government relations advisor to the Casbaa Board. He will report to Casbaa chairman Marcel Fenez.
Casbaa has appointed Jill Grinda as executive vice president focusing on operations and Casbaa‘s advertising initiatives.
Fenez said, “The Board of Directors is delighted with the appointment of Christopher Slaughter and the enhanced roles being taken up by John Medeiros and Jill Grinda. The new team‘s mandate and combined industry experience bring significant additional capacity to Casbaa and the services it provides to its 130 Members.”
Slaughter is a seasoned industry executive, having worked in Asia since 1986. He joins the Casbaa executive team from his role as managing director at production company APV in Hong Kong. He was previously the Asia Pacific head of The Yankee Group, a telecom, media, and technology research company, as well as the Hong Kong and Shanghai bureau chief for CNBC Asia. He has also worked in Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and India and is a fluent Mandarin speaker.
Medeiros has driven Casbaa‘s regulatory agenda over the past seven years. Prior to this he has held senior leadership roles in several US embassies in the region and in Europe.
Grinda, who joined Casbaa as vice president – operations in early 2011, has more than 20 years experience in global media and communications. She was previously responsible for the launch and distribution of several international television channels across Asia.
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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.
