Applications
FCC asks Fox and Cablevision to engage in positive negotiations
MUMBAI: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has asked Fox and Cablevision to engage in positive negotiations over retransmission fees to ensure that consumer interests are protected.
A bitter dispute between the two has led to a blackout of Fox programming for 3 million of the cable giant‘s customers.
In letters to executives of both the parties, FCC asked the firms to show they are conducting their talks “in good faith” and “in an atmosphere of honesty, purpose and clarity of process.”
The FCC action is the result of a push by lawmakers and public interest groups to the agency to help break the impasse. The FCC doesn‘t have the legal authority to directly intervene in retransmission-fee negotiations, but Commissioner Michael Copps and public interest groups argue that the agency can intervene if it is clear that both sides aren‘t conducting talks in good faith and hurting consumers in the process.
It has been almost a week since News Corp. stopped beaming the signals of its Fox television stations in New York and Philadelphia from about 3 million Cablevision Systems Corp. homes in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
So far, the two companies are nowhere near reaching a deal, frustrating consumers and angering politicians. Answers to the FCC‘s inquiry are due by the end of business Monday.
Applications
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.
