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Digitisation in Kolkata gets Mamata Banerjee nod
MUMBAI: This piece of news would certainly be music to the ears of Manish Tewari, the newly-appointed Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister. The West Bengal government has turned around and extended its support to the switch over of cable TV services to digital from analogue.
The state government plans to aggressively drive implementation of digitisation in the eastern metropolis by asking multi-system operators (MSOs) to switch off analogue signals to TV homes after the Diwali festival.
“The West Bengal government held meetings with MSOs individually to take stock of the situation in Kolkata. Firhad Hakim (Urban Development Minister) spoke separately to MSOs. The state government will shortly make an announcement about switching-off signals to analogue homes,” Siti Cable Kolkata Director Suresh Sethia told Indiantelevision.com.
With the Durga puja festival over, the West Bengal government is now willing to crack the whip after Diwali to make consumers adopt digital cable television, said industry officials who did not want to be named.
The state government is expected to make an announcement in next few days so that customers also become serious about buying boxes. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Bannerjee‘s public statements allowing analogue cable to run alongside digital cable had created uncertainty but the unexpected change of stance has provided a big boost to total implementation of the first phase of digitisation in the four metros.
The state government, which had given clear instructions to MSOs not to switch off signals to analogue homes, has now decided to accelerate the process of digitisation. Industry officials say an estimated 50-60 per cent cable TV homes in Kolkata have been digitised so far.
Siti Cable‘s Sethia said the state government wanted a smooth transition to digitisation and avoid chaos and breakdown of law and order in the city. “Everybody wants digitisation but it has to be a smooth process. The reason why the state government allowed signals to analogue homes because they wanted to avoid a (worsening) law and order situation,” Sethia averred.
As a precursor to an announcement by the state government, the MSOs in Kolkata have decided to go in for a genre-wise switch-off of analogue signals, which was done in Mumbai and Delhi before the digitisation deadline of 1 November.
“All the MSOs in Kolkata have decided to switch-off channels genre wise. A decision on the dates will be taken in the next few days,” a top executive with another MSO said.
According to information available with Indiantelevision.com Gujarat Telelinks Pvt Ltd (GTPL), in which Hathway Cable & Datacom holds 50 per cent stake, has already begun the genre wise switch-off in Kolkata starting with English movie channels. GTPL has a presence in Kolkata through 51 per cent acquistion in Kolkata Cable and Broadband Pariseva.
The MSOs have in principle also agreed to the state government‘s request to come out with a special package for consumers from below poverty line (BPL) category. “The state government had requested MSOs to subsidise STBs for people from BPL category. They had also told us to prepare special package for BPL customers so we will come out with special package for them,” Sethia 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.
