Applications
Madras HC pushes digitisation deadline to 5 November in Chennai
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday pushed the deadline for implementation of digitisation in Chennai to Monday, 5 November.
Justice Paul Vasanthkumar said the government itself has admitted that Chennai had achieved less than 70 per cent target in installation of digital set top boxes (STBs).
The order came on a petition by Chennai Metro Cable Operators Association (CMCOA) General Secretary M R Srinivasan.
The petitioner‘s counsel V P Gopalan argued that there were four million TV households in Chennai but STBs had been installed in just 200,000 homes, while another 700,000 were covered by direct-to-home platforms.
The Court also heard counsel for the Information & Broadcasting Ministry who said Chennai had achieved 62 per cent Cable TV digitization and that the figure goes up to 86 per cent on inclusion of direct-to-home (DTH).
The government has set 1 November as the deadline for compulsory switchover to digital delivery of television channels in the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
Talking to Indiantelevision.com from Chennai, Srinivasan said CMCOA will ask for extension of the deadline by at least three months.
CMCOA argument is that the actual number of homes seeded with STBs is only 200,000 out of 4 million television homes and if the digitisation deadline stands a lot of television sets will go blank.
Srinivasan also said the government will have to direct the Multi System Operators (MSOs) to procure enough boxes and monitor the digitisation process on a weekly basis to ensure that the digitisation target is met.
The state-owned Arasu Corporation, he said, was not present in Chennai and is yet to receive DAS licence which also added to the delay. Furthermore, other MSOs (Kal Cable and Sun Cable Vision) in Chennai are offering STBs only to cable operators who are paying in advance as per requirement.
Also read:
Bombay HC dismisses cable operators petition seeking digitisation extension
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.
