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Fox renews carriage deal with Dish
MUMBAI: In a deal that will avert the prospect of Fox facing another station blackout when its previous pact with Dish expires on Monday, Fox has come to terms with the latter on a mammoth carriage deal covering FX, National Geographhic Channel, 19 regional sports networks and retransmission consent for Fox‘s 27 broadcast TV stations.
FX and the regional sports cable TVs signals went off Dish TV as of 1 October when both the sides could not come to terms on renewal of their earlier pact. Channels of Fox are distribbed to about 4 million of the 14.3 million subscribers Dish has across the country.
Said FCC chairman Julius Genachowski about the Fox-Dish pact, “I am pleased that Fox and Dish have kept in mind their responsibility to protect consumers from blackouts when they negotiate carriage terms. I urge both the sides to complete their negotiations and end the impasse that has disrupted service to viewers.”
Meanwhile, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) continues to press his case of a legislative overhaul of the retransmission consent law that governs deal-making between broadcast TV station owners and subscription TV providers. He released a letter on Friday that he received from Genachowski noting his concern about viewers suffering through station blackouts.
On his part, Genachowski indicated that he would support Kerry‘s call for changing the retransmission law to mandate mediation or binding arbitration during fee disputes in order to keep stations from going dark for consumers. “I agree that it is time for Congress to revisit the current retransmission law and assess whether changes in the marketplace call for new tools to strike the appropriate balance of private negotiations and consumer protection,” he stated.
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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.
