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TDSAT stays own voluntary Cas order; Trai hears mandatory Cas demand
NEW DELHI: In two separate but related developments, the issue of voluntary Cas became central today when TDSAT stayed its own previous order on voluntary Cas in Orissa, while members of the consultative committee of Trai on voluntary Cas told the regulator unanimously that Cas must be mandatory. The Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) today heard senior counsel for ETV, Parag Tripahti, on the review petition the broadcaster had filed on the March 1 order of the court, and stayed its own order. That March 1 order had been issued after hearing a petition by Ortel, an MSO in Orissa which had decided to rollout Cas voluntarily and had wanted ETV digital signals, which they said they would pay ETV for. |
Ortel had pleaded that ETV may be ordered to give their digital signal, and Ortel would pay ETV for each subscriber who opted to have the ETV channel. Ortel is an Orissa MSO that has started voluntary rollout of Cas there, and had said that the ETV signals would be delivered through Cas STBs, and hence, there would be no under-declaration, as the SMS (Subscriber Management System) would be used. On March 1, TDSAT had issued an order that it would be beneficial if Cas rollout is voluntary and ordered ETV to give digital signals to Ortel within one week. ETV had filed a review petition on that order, and Tripathi today argued that according to Section 4-A of the Cable Television Network Act (1995), only the Central government could have order Cas rollout, and hence TDSAT had no jurisdiction over that. |
The court after hearing the ETV argument stayed their original order on voluntary rollout of Cas, sending legal and MSO circles went into a tizzy as to the possible implications this could have. Meanwhile, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India‘s (Trai) committee on voluntary Cas met today at the Trai office here and all the members stressed that voluntary Cas would not work and it had to be made mandatory, sources told indiantelevision.com. The committee includes representatives of Incable, WWIL, Sun TV, Hathway as well as the two DTH players, TataSky and Dish TV. Both the latter too put their strength behind mandatory Cas. The core of the argument of the committee members lie in the fact that the Central government was pushing for going digital, which is only possible under DTH or Cas. Hence, if that programme has to be ensured success, Cas has to be made mandatory across the metros. They said that Cas will not pan out unless people are given a deadline to shift over, and even the experience of Cas this time showed that even after the enforcement, people have take a long time to switch over the Cas. Hence, the have demanded the mandatory rollout of Cas throughout the three metros and not just parts of them. Trai will send its report to the Centre. Incidentally, the Delhi High Court is also hearing a case in which an MSO has sought clarification whether Trai could order Cas rollout in select sections of the three metros or does the order cover their entire area. |
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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.
