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StarHub, mioTV launch new sports promotions
MUMBAI: In a bid to lure and retain its subscribers, Star Hub and mioTV have announced new sports promotions after it was decided to move Barclays Premier League action from StarHub to IPTV service mioTV next year.
StarHub lost the rights of English Premier League (EPL) to mioTV in the bidding war as well as carriage of the ESPN Star Sports (ESS) channels that are also moving to SingTel‘s IPTV service.
StarHub is planning a new 24-hour sports channel that will be available for free to its entire cable TV base from January 2010. From July 2010, meanwhile, the platform will deliver Eurosportnews, which is presently offered as part of StarHub‘s Sports Group as a basic service to all subscribers.
Comments StarHub‘s VP of home solutions Ong Bee Lian, “With the addition of the two sports channels to our complimentary lineup, StarHub TV customers can enjoy as many as 26 channels at entry level. This works out to less than a dollar per month for each channel.”
Meanwhile, the cable platform is dropping the price of its Sports Group package by more than 50 per cent in July, ahead of the new EPL season.
From July 2010, the Sports Group will comprise Football Channel, SuperSports, SuperSports Plus, Sports HD, Goal TV 1, Goal TV 2, Golf Channel, Eurosport, La Liga on-demand and WWE on demand.
SingTel‘s mioTV is already looking to attract fans of EPL with new early bird specials. For a limited period, customers who sign up for either the Barclays Premier League 2010/11 season or Barclays Premier League 2010/11 with ESPN Star Sports Channels on a 12-month subscription basis will receive the Football Frenzy Pack (worth S$15.90 per month) for free till 31 July.
This includes UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches, live and on demand, over TV, mobile phone and online, as well as the Italian Serie A matches.
The promotional offer also includes a 30-day preview of all mio TV programmes (excluding movies and video-on-demand content), free installation, a high-definition set-top box and an ADSL2+ modem. Customers who sign up for the sports pack will also gain access to ESPN Star Sports channels-ESPN, Star Sports and ESPNews as and when they become available.
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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.
