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Dish media campaign draws flak from cable ops
NEW DELHI: Dish TV’s media campaign revolving round freedom-from-cable-problems theme has incensed a section of cable community, which feels it’s “unethical.”
In a letter e-mailed to Dish TV, All India Aavishkar Dish Antenna Sangh (AIADAS), one of the many bodies representing the cable fraternity, has exhorted the DTH company to withdraw the “misguiding advertisement.”
“The whole cable TV community is shocked on seeing the business-damaging and misguiding advertisement campaign launched by Dish TV through various news papers, hoarding, and bus shelters. This type of advertisement campaign has hurt the cable TV fraternity in India as a whole,” the AIADAS letter states.
The letter further highlights that the latest Dish campaign would severely hurt the business of cable operators; almost to the extent of crushing them out.
“In case the (cable) consumer shifts (to DTH), who is going to pay compensation to the cable TV operator?” Dr. AK Rastogi, head of AIADAS, has asked in the letter.
Though Rastogi claimed that Dish has agreed to withdraw the damaging ad campaign in deference to the cable industry’s anguish, Dish TV CEO Sunil Khanna denied any such move.
“We are not withdrawing any campaign, nor altering it,” Khanna told Indiantelevision.com today afternoon.
He added that instead of being cry babies, cable operators should seize this opportunity to digitize their networks and offer consumers better services than before.
“With competition around in DTH sphere, there is bound to be consumer awareness campaigns highlighting the advantages of a DTH service. The cable operators should brace themselves for reality,” Khanna 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.
