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Interoperability wouldn’t support VAS, interactivity: Kaushik
NEW DELHI: With the arrival of the second pay DTH player in the market, a buzz word would be interoperability, meaning whether consumers can switch from one service to another effortlessly.
Though Indian government norms specify that all DTH systems need to be interoperable for consumer’s convenience, in reality it may not be so.
Vikram Kaushik, MD and CEO of Tata Sky, which launched its commercial service on 8 August, hinted that interoperability may be limited.
“Interoperability may not support interactive and value added services,” Kaushik admitted to a specific query on the issue today in Delhi.
Tata Sky consumer marketing head Vikram Mehra explained that for seamless interoperability of all services, including interactive services, DTH service providers must have similar software.
“In the absence of some (proprietary) software, value added services of a DTH platform may not get supported when a consumer changes the service provider. Yes, the TV channels would be available and that’s what government rules specify,” Mehra elaborated.
What does this mean?
If an existing Dish TV consumer, wants to switch over to Tata Sky service and hopes just a replacement of the smart card in the set-top box would give him all the features of Tata Sky, then he would have to think again.
Features like interactive news and sports and some value added services like movie-on-demand of Tata Sky would not be available by just inserting a Tata Sky smart card in a set-top box bought/rented from Dish TV.
For the records, Siebel will manage customer relationship management of Tata Sky, while Kenan will support the billing system, SAP will be responsible for enterprise resource planning and Sun Microsystems will provide technology infrastructure.
The boxes would be sourced from Thomson and Korean company Humax.
Both the companies will be manufacturing the set-top boxes in India, Kaushik said, which would help in keeping the price line under control.
At present country’s first pay platform, Dish TV, boasts of 1.25 million subscribers, while pubcaster Doordarshan’s subscription-free DD Direct+ has a reported consumer base of 3.5 million.
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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.
