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Dish TV not looking for equity funding in first phase of digitisation
MUMBAI: Dish TV, India‘s largest direct-to-home (DTH) operator with a net subscriber base of 9.6 million till 31 March 2012, will need a fresh funding of Rs 4.5 billion for digitisation in the first phase but has no plans to dilute equity at this stage.
The company has Rs 3.6 billion cash and bank funding will take care of the remaining amount.
“We have already paid for the 1.2 million set-top boxes because of government‘s digitisation mandate. We are expecting we would require around Rs 4.5 billion of fresh funding but we have cash and can have debt. We do not plan to dilute equity at this stage,” said a source.
Dish TV‘s net debt has come down by Rs 1 billion QoQ to Rs 11 billion.
The company expects digitisation to trigger an upside of 3-3.5 million subscribers for the DTH industry this fiscal. The government has mandated digitisation in the metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai by 30 June.
Dish TV expects the DTH industry to otherwise add 8-9 million subscribers in FY‘13. The company is adding 0.16-0.17 million gross subscribers on a monthly basis in the first quarter of this fiscal. It expects this to inch higher after the 30 June deadline for digitisation in the four metros.
Dish TV does not expect a decline in entry level pricing under digitisation as it expects multi-system operators (MSOs) to have a shortfall of set-top boxes (STBs) which will be taken care by DTH operators.
Gearing up for digitisation, Dish TV would increase its marketing costs from Rs 800 million to Rs 1 billion in FY‘13.
The company expects ARPU (average revenue per user (ARPU) to mostly stay constant this fiscal or go up marginally by 2-3 per cent. This factors in the impact on consumer bill of 2 per cent because of increase in service tax. However, from a medium-to-longer term perspective it expects ARPUs to trend upwards under digitisation.
Dish TV expects content costs to climb 12-13 per cent this fiscal as Media Pro is demanding a 10 per cent increase. “We are on negotiations with them,” the official said.
The company‘s Ebitda margin in the fiscal-fourth quarter ended 31 March 2012 stood at 27.5 per cent, beating market forecast of 24.2 per cent, due to lower programming cost (down 6.9% QoQ). “This was due to renegotiation with two major sports broadcasters and we expect the lower rates to hold going forward as a percentage of subscription revenue.”
Other operating costs jumped 35 per cent QoQ because transponder lease is pegged in dollar terms. Dish TV paid Rs 110 million to Isro on account of rentals for the full FY‘12 in the fourth quarter alone.
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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.
