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India to have 1.2 mn HD subscribers on DTH by fiscal-end
MUMBAI: India will have 1.2 million HD subscribers on DTH by the end of this fiscal, industry experts said here today.
Pricing is a sticky issue but aggressive marketing will push the demand for HD channels.
Demonstrating the success of Movies Now, Media Network and Distribution Network India CEO and MD Yogesh Radhakrishnan said the idea for an HD channel came in 2007. In 2009 the decision was made that Movies Now had to be taken across digital and analogue on the same feed. The analogue market is large and the channel looks better than competition even in this segment.
“So we went the dual way. We approached the DTH operators,” added Radhakrishnan, conceding that it was a humongous effort to transfer all content to HD. “There was a starting cost, but it has paid us twice over. We backed the project. People looked at our product as being superior.”
Demand is key for HD channels to work. “We want to drive the HD market. We are looking at having an English music channel. We would also want a 3D launch,” he said.
Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera said that his company was the last to launch DTH. “We missed the World Cup but launched before the IPL. We wanted all HD channels on our platform. We have reserved bandwidth for future HD channels.”
On the hardware side, Khera said that 14 million colour TV sets would be sold this fiscal our of which six million will be panels. “Close to one million HD panels will be sold. Some consumers will move to DTH, if cable is not offering HD.”
Cost remains a main concern. Khera said there is not much difference between the cost of a standard definition box versus an HD one. He expects costs to come down further.
“MPEG 4 cost will in the near future be the same as MPEG 2. On the consumer electronics side, companies like Sony, LG, Samsung are pushing 3D and HD. But there is a bandwidth scarcity for 3D content,” he stated.
AETN18 president Ajay Chacko noted that for History there is no input cost as content in this genre is mostly made in HD. There is a bandwith cost but he expects that to fall.
Sports and Bollywood content would drive the demand for HD, Khera said.
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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.
