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Hathway Cable’s HD push
MUMBAI: Hathway Cable & Datacom has become the first national multi-system operator (MSO) to launch high definition service as it gears up to fight against direct-to-home (DTH) operators for upscale subscribers in the main metros where it has a footprint.
Limiting its offer to Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore, India‘s leading MSO has rolled out its HD service with a pack of eight television channels – Colors, Ten HD, Discovery, Movies Now, History, UTV Stars, TravelXP and MTunes.
Hathway is in negotiations with Star for its HD channels. Also out of the menu are the two popular sports channels – ESPN and Star Sports.
Hathway, however, believes it has a distinct advantage over DTH by bundling broadband with HD.
“We are looking at adding 50,000-75,000 HD subscribers a year. We are taking a niche rather than a mass route. The killer application for us is the bundling of the HD offering with broadband. We also have a cost advantage over DTH,” Hathway Cable & Datacom managing director and chief executive officer K Jayaraman tells Indiantelevision.com.
For the pure HD service, Hathway is charging Rs 6666 for a year (excluding taxes). The HD Lite plan includes subscription of HD and SD channels (160 + channels).
In the bundled plan, HD Max is available for Rs 8888 (excluding tax). It has features of HD Lite plans along with broadband for connection with 2 Mbps speed and 40 GB download.
HD Max + is available for Rs 9999. In addition to HD Lite features, it has 5 Mbps broadband speed with download limit of 60 GB.
Hathway has a fourth offering for cable operators. “As a wholesale model, we are charging cable operators Rs 5500. It is up to them to fix the price they sell to customers.,” says Jayaraman.
Subscribers can pay Rs 3000 for the HD box or return it to Hathway after a year. Clearly, the MSO‘s strategy is to bundle the hardware with one-year of subscription for content.
“The HD boxes cost us Rs 3000. We have not included HD content package at this stage. As we tie up more HD content, we will start packages. But what we have smartly done is bundle broadband with HD content,” says Jayaraman.
Hathway‘s twin goals are to move up the value chain and protect its direct subscribers from migrating to DTH.
The HD service is enabled by Media Highway set-top box software.
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.
