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Star files for FIPB nod to up its stake in Tata Sky
MUMBAI: Star India, the Indian subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, proposes to up its effective stake in the joint venture direct-to-home (DTH) company Tata Sky.
Star India has applied for FIPB (foreign investment promotion board) clearance to buy a 49 per cent stake in Tata Group’s investment firm TS Investments. The firm will buy a 20 per cent stake in Tata Sky for Rs 3.24 billion.
Effectively, Star India will get additional 9.8 per cent stake in Tata Sky, increasing News Corp’s total holding in the DTH company to 29.8 per cent.
Currently, News Corp holds 20 per cent while Tatas holds 70 per cent stake in the DTH company. In 2007, Temasek had acquired 10 10 per cent stake in Tata Sky for $56 million.
At present, there is a cap of 20 per cent FDI in the DTH sector, while the ceiling on foreign holding is 49 per cent. However, the government made amendments to the FDI policy last year that stated that investment through companies owned and controlled by Indians would not count in the calculation of foreign investment.
Tata Sky officials did not want to comment on the issue. Tata Sky MD & CEO Vikram Kaushik was not available for comment.
A source familiar with the development, however, said that the Murdoch company had applied to the FIPB for upping its stake in Tata Sky. “News Corp could have taken its effective stake to 39 per cent as Temasek holds 10 per cent. But the Tata Group was not willing to dilute its stake further at this stage,” the source added.
Tata Sky has over 4.5 million subscribers and is the third largest DTH operator in the country, behind Dish TV and Sun Direct. In terms of ARPUs, however, it would stand higher among the others.
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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.
