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Sony-Discovery reach agreement with Dish TV
NEW DELHI / MUMBAI: It‘s been a long time coming but after endless rounds of discussions, India’s first direct-to-home service Dish TV has finally reached mutually agreeable terms with the Sony-Discovery One Alliance distribution bouquet to carry their channels.
The two parties arrived at a memorandum of understanding today and the official signing will happen anytime in the next few days, sources close to the developments tell Indiantelevision.com.
The One Alliance channels will begin beaming off the Dish platform within the next few days and the billing cycle is effective from 1 July on. The financial terms that the two parties have agreed to were not available at the time of filing this report.
For Dish TV, this resolves one half of the problem it has been facing ever since its launch – its inability to offer subscribers channels from the One Alliance and Star bouquets.
With the addition of the Sony bouquet, Dish TV can look forward to a major ramp up in subscriber numbers. Two key events that are expected to drive acquisitions in the immediate term are the ongoing India-West Indies Test series and the Fifa World Cup. The Word Cup kicks off in Munich, Germany, on 9 June while the second Test in St Lucia, West Indies, will take place between 10 and 14 June. ESPN Star Sports (already on the Dish network) has exclusive rights to the World Cup while Ten Sports – part of the One Alliance bouquet – is exclusively airing the cricket in the Caribbean.
A contentious issue that automatically gets resolved with Sony‘s sign-up on Dish is the legal spat that Subhash Chandra’s DTH service has been having with Viacom channels MTV and Nick since last year. Both channels are part of the One Alliance.
In a letter sent to the information and broadcasting ministry last month, Dish TV had petitioned that despite the sector regulator’s directive on making available content to all platforms and a favourable judgement from disputes tribunal TDSAT, the “conduct of MTV” has been “clearly in violation” of the interconnection regulation of 2004.
Dish TV’s parent ASC Enterprises‘ contention was that despite carrying on commercial negotiations with MTV Networks India for several months, the content provider and its distributors in India (One Alliance) had stalled any fruitful conclusion of such talks.
ASC Enterprises, an Essel Group company, holds the licence for a DTH service in the country, which is marketed under the brand name Dish TV.
Also Read:
Dish TV appeals to govt against MTV, Nick
TDSAT puts a lock on any DTH operator carrying Star channels
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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.
