Applications
Stage set for India Digital Pay-TV Summit
MUMBAI: The stage is set for “India Digital Pay-TV Summit (IDPS) 2011”, jointly organised by Indiantelevision.com and Media Partners Asia.
The day-long summit, to be held tomorrow at ITC Maratha in Mumbai, will debate on digitisation and the opening up of the pay-TV market in India.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) MD and CEO Punit Goenka will set the tone of the summit with his keynote address.
“With the government announcing the sunset date for digitisation, the pay TV industry is very interestingly poised. DTH has been spreading pretty aggressively, while Cable TV has also been investing cautiously, waiting for further liberalisation and incentives from the government. Once all these things fall in place, revenue leakages from the system will reduce and with the spread of digital set-top-boxes, transparency will come. This will lead to a buoyant industry,” said Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief Anil Wanvari.
The first panel will discuss on ‘Digitization, ground realities & the way forward‘. The panelists in this session are MSO Alliance president Ashok Mansukhani, Star India EVP (Legal Regulatory Affairs) & General Counsel Deepak Jacob, Ortel MD Jagi Panda, Sun Direct MD Mahesh Kumar and Discovery Networks Asia SVP Rahul Johri.
The second session – Consolidation & Levers of Future Growth – will be debated by Hathway Cable & Datacom MD & CEO K Jayraman, Exponenia Capital principal Neeraj Bhatia, IDFC Securities MD Nikhil Vora, Den president SN Sharma, and Manthan Broadband Services director Gurmeet Singh.
The session on ‘DTH Dimensions: Future Value Drivers‘ will be debated by SES VP Deepak Mathur; Sun18 COO and Viacom18 head of International business Gaurav Gandhi; MCCS EVP and head of marketing & distribution Neeraj Sanan; Dish TV CEO RC Venkateish; and Bharti Airtel CEO DTH and Media Services Shashi Arora.
The penal discussion will be followed by Q&A with Trai chairman JS Sarma.
Post lunch, a panel comprising AETN18 president Ajay Chacko, Videocon D2H CEO Anil Khera, and Media Network & Distribution (India Ltd.) MD and CEO Yogesh Radhakrishnan will debate on ‘HD Transformation: Decoding & Delivering‘.
As networks digitise and DTH spreads, what additional services can be provided to customers? Where will the new revenue streams come from? These questions will be answered in the next panel discussion titled ‘VAS, Advertising and new business models‘. The panelists are NDS director, Advertising Solutions, Asia Pacific Darryn Rodricks; Dish TV VP (Advertising Sales) Dilip Jayaram; Amagi Media Labs co-founder KA Srinivasan; Lukup Media director Kallol Borah; Madison Media Group CEO Punitha Arumugam; and IMCL SVP – Marketing & Customer Relations Subhashish Mazumdar.
You Cable & Broadband CEO EVS Chakravarthy, independent consultant Anuj Gandhi and IBM director & partner Communications Sector / Industry Leader – Media & Entertainment Raman Kalra will spearhead the session on “Broadband Dimensions: Disruptors & The Next Generation.”
NDS is the lead partner of the event, while Discovery Channel and SES are the industry partners. MGM Channels and Videocon D2H have joined as associate partners.
MSM Discovery is name badge partner, while Prime Connect, Sun18, History Channel (AETN18), Manthan and Zee Khana Khazana are support partners. CMCG India is the PR partner. Also joining as print media partners are Avishkar, Cable Quest, Media Research Asia, Media Route 26 and Satellite @Internet India.
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.
