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Sun Direct adds 2 Marathi channels
MUMBAI: Sun Direct has announced the addition of two more channels for their Marathi viewers. The DTH company has added Zee Talkies and Star Parvah to take the Marathi channel’s count on the platform to six.
Apart from the two new channels, Sun Direct already had Zee Marathi, ETV Marathi, Mi Marathi and Star Majha.
Sun Direct COO Tony D’Silva said, “The addition of these two new channels widens the choice of entertainment bouquet for our Marathi customers. As specialists in understanding regional nuances, we have always offered region specific entertainment bouquet at the right price point. This will also help us garner a larger share of the DTH market in Maharashtra.”
Maharashtra is a big market for DTH operators and quite a large chunk of subscribers comes from the state. Also the state population consumes more regional language content. Recently, Reliance Communications’ Big TV had also beefed up its Marathi content to ramp up its market share in the state.
On Sun direct, Marathi movie channel Zee Talkies will be available on channel No 657, while Star Parvah, the Marathi general entertainment channel, will be on channel No 653.
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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.
