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DTH adds 1.6 mn subs in festive month of October
MUMBAI: Cable operators have got a fresh warning from their DTH rivals, ahead of the digitisation mandate. For the festive month of October, direct-to-home (DTH) operators have mopped up 1.6 million subscribers, the highest monthly mobilisation this fiscal.
DTH added 2.85 million subscribers during the three-month period ended June. There was a marginal slowdown as the sector collected 2.5 million in the second quarter.
Videocon has emerged as the leader among the pack, adding 1.8 million subscribers this fiscal as it inches close towards the 5-million mark.
“We have added 400,000 subscribers in October itself. Being a strong consumer electronics company, our wide dealer network has helped. We have also marketed the product aggressively,” said Videocon d2h chief executive officer Anil Khera.
Dish TV, India’s largest DTH company in terms of subscriber base, has added 1.735 million this fiscal. While it collected 1.3 million subscribers during the first six months of the fiscal, in October the company added 435,000 new customers.
Bharti’s Airtel Digital TV had around 400,000 subscribers in October. It collected 1.3 million subscribers in the fiscal’s first two quarters.
Tata Sky is also among the top four DTH players in terms of new customer additions.
Ashok Lalla joins Mindshare as leader, digital, South Asia
Applications
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.
