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Dish TV selects Ericsson for system upgrade
MUMBAI: Essel Group’s direct-to-home (DTH) company Dish TV is taking Ericsson’s services to ramp up its efficiency.
The leading DTH player, which recently started offering high-definition (HD) services, said Thursday it has roped in Ericsson to improve its satellite bandwidth efficiency, increase channel capacity and offer more choice to its subscribers in HD as well as standard definition (SD).
With the head-end upgrade, company claims that 7.5 million subscriber of Dish TV can enjoy new HD services. Also, viewers can access new SD channels without the need to swap existing MPEG-2 set-top boxes (STBs).
Dish TV has selected Ericsson’s EN8100 MPEG-2 and EN8190 MPEG-4 AVC encoders, and is launching a combined SD MPEG-2 and HD MPEG-4 AVC system in the same transponder space. The EN8100 and EN8190 optimise bitrates and deliver greater performance to strengthen Dish TV’s business case by maximising current bandwidth capacity.
Dish TV president projects Rajiv Khattar said, “Ericsson’s solution will help us to roll out several more channels to our subscribers and to give us capacity to offer new HD services. This presents significant savings and will further enhance the consumer experience. We are pleased to partner with Ericsson, who has significant experience in this field, for this important upgrade.”
“The EN8100 offers leading levels of performance that enable operators to maximise bandwidth utilisation without the need for new customer equipment. This improvement in service, with zero disruption to the subscriber, reduces churn and attracts new customers,” said Ericsson head of compression, solution area TV Eric Baron. “We are pleased to provide Dish TV with the capability to deliver more HD and SD services to its subscribers, offering them greater choice, and in turn a further improved overall experience.”
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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.
