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Star Cricket ties in WWIL, eyeing Hathway deal to sum up distribution
NEW DELHI: ESPN Software India today signed a deal with Zee Group‘s cable arm WWIL for the broadcaster‘s latest channel Star Cricket. The deal with WWIL is for Delhi, Ludhiana and Chandigarh region, where the channel would be distributed by the MSO. This takes forward the aggressive distribution work that the premier cricket channel is undertaking, and on the face of market reports that subscribers are not interested in paying for the channel, company sources claimed that this proves otherwise.
ESPN Software, which yesterday tied up also with TataSky, has already concluded a deal with WWIL Mumbai and Kolkata earlier.
Company sources said that major MSO Hathway is the only one left so far, but expects that with InCable having inked the deal, other MSOs would be bound to follow.
Though the company has said it is giving the channel at Rs 28 per subscriber per month, it is not revealing the details on whether it is a subscription based or minimum guarantee one.
The difference between WWIL and the other two major national MSOs, Hathway and InCable, company officials say, is that while the other two make a single deal which is valid for the entire country, WWIL operates through fully owned subsidiaries in most cities.
Hence, the individual companies under the WWIL banner are signing up separate deals, of which Star Cricket has bagged two more important ones.
Star Cricket is now available across all major platforms nationally including all Cas notified areas. In the non-Cas areas, the broadcaster has already signed deals with leading MSOs as too multiple independent operators across the country, a company official said.
With this, Star Cricket is now available across all major cities of the country. As of today, Star Cricket‘s penetration has reached more than 75 per cent of the reach of ESPN and Star Sports in the country, company officials claim.
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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.
