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DD’s DTH far from target, to offer 75 channels by year-end
NEW DELHI: The number of channels on Doordarshan’s direct-to-home platform DD Direct Plus will go up from 59 to 75 channels by the end of the current year.
This was stated by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting S Jagathrakshkan, amid contradictory figures given by both Prasar Bharati and the Ministry over the past year.
Prasar Bharati had on 7 June last year cleared the expansion of the country’s only free-to-air (FTA) TV platform to 200 channels by the end of the 2011 and even said the clearance of the detailed proposal for e-auction of the channels for the platform was expected to fetch at least Rs 3.5 billion.
Prasar Bharati sources at that time said over 250 FTA Indian and foreign TV channels were in the queue.
Later on 6 September, the Board raised the figure to 250 channels but said this would be in two stages: 150 channels by December 2011 and another 100 channels in the next calendar year 2012.
This figure included the slots for which auctions were held last year. The Prasar Bharati Board had in its 104th meeting taken note of the result of the auction of the six vacant slots on the DTH platform at the prices ranging from Rs 32.1 million to Rs 35 million per year.
It was then announced that the public broadcaster will put on auction another 90 slots within the next few months to increase the capacity from 59 to 150 channels. Sources said DD could have made another Rs 2.17 billion, crossing the Rs 2.8 billion mark before 31 March 2012.
Later in the year, DD sources told indiantelevision.com that DD Direct Plus was expected to get an annual fee of Rs 1 billion each from the 54 channels that will beam on MPEG 2 and Rs 1.5 billion each from the 96 channels that will beam on MPEG 4.
Doordarshan spends Rs 3.5 billion to Rs 4 billion every year to operate 59 channels on DD Direct+ (including 22 DD channels) whereas private operators manage over 230 channels on their respective DTH platforms at nearly half the cost (on a per channel basis), sources said.
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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.
