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Reliance Communications to live stream ICC World Cup
Reliance Communications, the global partner of the International Cricket Council (ICC), will be live steaming the World Cup 2011 matches.
The telecom major also said Wednesday it has kicked off marketing activities for next year’s cricket World Cup and is conducting a three-city preview of the trophy.
Reliance Mobile will go live with all the World Cup matches through its ICC zone on R-World Vas platform.
Reliance Mobile customers will be able to keep a track of the 49 ICC CWC 2011 matches via Wap and SMS Alerts. They will be able to watch live stream of match highlights videos, watch previews and match round-ups, and download wallpapers and ringtones, anytime anywhere, with their handsets on both GSM and CDMA networks.
Reliance Mobile will also provide access to ICC rankings, archived content of previous tournaments, news and analysis of match/tournament/players, ball-by-ball score updates on Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and Data protocol. Customers will have the choice of downloading video clips and receiving video alerts over SMS.
Reliance Communications CEO and regional head South and West Akshay Kumar said that 3G will mean that more people will avail of the live streaming service for the World Cup.
“We launched this streaming service last year with the Twenty20 World Cup. However this time more people will be able to access it. The quality of video will be superior. While I cannot give a date, we would have launched our 3G services much before the World Cup in February,” Kumar added.
The company has bagged the license to offer 3G services in 13 key circles including Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. Reliance Mobile also offers pan-India CDMA and GSM Services across 24000 towns and 600,000 Indian villages serving over 115 million customers.
Kumar said that 3G will be rolled out in a phased manner across the circles. He declined to comment on pricing or deals done with content providers.
“Arpus will rise with the advent of 3G,” he added.
In terns of marketing activities for the World Cup, the company will organise contests where prizes can be won. Different programmes will be done with channel and trade partners. The on-going trophy preview is one such activity and the company has roped in Syed Kirmani for the same.
ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat said, “As we prepare for what will be a great celebration of the game at our flagship event next year, we are fortunate to have a group of top-class partners whose commitment to the game is unquestioned. Without that commitment we would not be in a position to help our 105 members grow the game as they do around the world. Through its commitment to and passion for the game, Reliance Mobile is helping to make our great sport even greater.”
Relay Worldwide India GM Mahesh Ranka expects marketing activities by the ICC partners to start by December. “Since it is in India, the decibel level will be higher. Having said that, ambush marketing will be a threat. The ICC’s inspectors will have to be at different venues keeping tabs on proceedings on the ground. That is because no company will want to let go off this opportunity,” he 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.
