ITV

Tag: DTH industry

  • Trai extends deadline to receive stakeholder comments on ‘renewal of MSO registration’ consultation paper

    Trai extends deadline to receive stakeholder comments on ‘renewal of MSO registration’ consultation paper

    Mumbai: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has extended the deadline to receive comments & counter comments on the consultation paper ‘renewal of multi-system operators (MSOs) registration’. Stakeholders can submit their written comments by 24 August and their counter comments by 31 August.

    Trai decided to delay the deadline after stakeholders sought an extension of time for sending their comments on the consultation paper, however, no further requests for extension would be considered, it said.

    The consultation paper seeks the comments of MSOs on relevant issues about renewal of MSO registration including the quantum fee to be paid for such renewal.

    The key issues addressed in the consultation paper are 1) what should be the qualifying conditions, if any, to be prescribed for MSO renewal? 2) list of necessary compliances for renewal of MSO registration 3) period of renewal 4) whether a one-time fee should be levied at the time of renewal? 5) should there be a window to apply for renewal before expiry of MSO registration? 6) provision to ensure continuity of service to consumers on expiry of registration.

    The ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) plans to revise the policy guidelines regarding the renewal period of MSOs to maintain uniformity with the direct-to-home (DTH) and broadcasting sector. It has proposed to keep the renewal period for MSO registration after every ten years.

    Also Read: MIB proposes to introduce policy guidelines for renewal of registered MSO and HITS operators

  • Dish TV India reports operating revenue of Rs 2802.5 crore for FY22

    Dish TV India reports operating revenue of Rs 2802.5 crore for FY22

    Mumbai: Dish TV India has reported its results for the fourth quarter and the financial year ended on 31 March 2022. The company reported operating revenue of Rs 2,802.5 crore for the financial year and Rs 642.7 crore for the fourth quarter.

    Subscription revenues stood at Rs 2,531.1 crore for the year and Rs 574.8 crore for the quarter. Profit before exceptional items and tax stood at Rs 272.7 crore for the year and Rs 41.8 crore for the quarter.

    The exceptional items for the quarter and fiscal year 2021-2022 include Rs 203.0 crore as an impairment charge on intangible assets under development and related advances Rs 1,616.9 crore and Rs 717.7 crore respectively, as an impairment charge on the goodwill and intangible assets acquired from Videocon d2h in 2017-18 and Rs 116.3 crore recognised as foreign exchange fluctuation loss due to the ongoing economic crisis in Sri Lanka.

    The company continued to deleverage its balance sheet for the fourth year in a row and paid off Rs 434.3 crore during the year thus reducing its overall debt to Rs 375.6 crore at the end of fiscal 2022 as compared to fiscal 2021, which was at Rs 809.9 crore.

    The company reported a loss after including exceptional items and tax of Rs 1,867.23 crore for the year and Rs 2,031.99 crore for the quarter.

    Management analysis

    As per the management analysis, the fourth quarter and fiscal 2022 saw the expansion of the viewers’ slate of content. The company offers over 850 plus channels in the linear space and 40 odd big & small OTT platforms offering movies, TV shows and web series. The time spent watching content per user per day went up to 4.5 hours compared to 3.6 hours in 2018.

    Businesses across sectors in distribution or content are facing reducing customer stickiness, falling subscriber numbers and a perpetual capex (capital expenditure) cycle.

    The direct-to-home (DTH) industry in India has been running the capital expenditure treadmill to increase the number of paying subscribers but, competition from streaming platforms, free-to-air government-run distribution platforms, telcos, cable TV and intermittent undercutting within the industry itself, has been either churning subscribers or intensifying capex or both, said the statement.

    Dish TV India recorded 3.4 per cent higher new additions during the year but remained vulnerable to shifting viewing habits which continued to influence the recharge behaviour of its subscribers. The quarter also witnessed lingering effects of the pandemic related weakness in consumer sentiment with global geo-political developments and resultant inflationary spikes worsening buyer confidence. High churn resulted in a net reduction in the subscriber base during the quarter.

    Dish TV India group CEO and executive director Anil Dua said, “Pay-TV consumer sentiment has been oscillating between indulging in content to sometimes being frugal with it. Consumers have been choosier than ever, often moving between linear and streaming content, as a result renewing their subscriptions less regularly. Dish TV values customers’ changing tastes and preferences and is working towards adapting to and leveraging these emerging trends.”

    Dish TV India’s OTT platform Watcho crossed the 50 million downloads mark at the end of the quarter increasing its presence by 25 million during the year.

    “These are challenging yet exciting times and we are reviewing everything that has existed for years. We are actively looking beyond our contemporary offerings of hybrid boxes and OTT platform Watcho, and are working towards new ways to serve our valued subscribers, both existing as well as new,” he added.

    Dish TV India chairman and managing director Jawaher Goel said, “Competition is always good for the growth of any industry, what is important though is that there should be a level playing field. Pay channel procurement which is subject to strict regulations for the pay-TV sector is under forbearance when it comes to broadcaster owned channels being streamed on their own OTT platforms. This is despite cross-holding restrictions that prevent broadcasters from getting into distribution. Moreover, within pay-TV, DTH is the only business which is subject to a license fee payable to the government. As we work towards keeping up with the times, we also hope that a common licensing regime and forbearance over excessive regulation will be the norm going forward.”

  • Yes Bank issues notice to Dish TV India calling for EGM

    Yes Bank issues notice to Dish TV India calling for EGM

    Mumbai: Yes Bank has called for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of shareholders of Dish TV India Ltd, after the latter sought an extension on its annual general meeting (AGM) scheduled for 27 September.

    The bank had issued a notice on 6 September calling for a resolution for the removal of the current board of directors of the company and appointment of a new board of directors including Akash Suri, Sanjay Nambiar, Vijay Bhatt, Haripriya Padmanabhan, Girish Paranjape, Narayan Vasudeo Prabhutendulkar, and Arvind Nachaya Mapangada.

    It had called for the ouster of Dish TV India’s managing director Jawaher Goel, and directors Ashok Mathai Kurien, Bhagwan Das Narang, Shankar Aggarwal, and Dr Rashmi Aggarwal.

    Yes Bank alleged that Dish TV India is seeking an extension of the AGM based on “unfounded reasons.” “In light of the company engaging in dilatory tactics in placing the resolution before the shareholders, the bank is constrained to issue the present notice for holding an extraordinary general meeting of the company,” it said.

    Dish TV India had notified the bank that a change in directorship requires prior approval of the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) and hence the resolutions for removal and appointment of directors cannot be placed before the shareholders at the AGM.

    To which the bank issued revised notices to the company on 9 September wherein the effectiveness in change in the directorship of the company was subject to MIB approval. The bank submitted details of the proposed list of directors to apply to MIB and seek their approval on 18 September.

    The bank believes that Dish TV India is not acting in line with good corporate governance standards and is not fairly representing the interests of the incumbent significant shareholders of the company. Its grievances include the company’s decision to move ahead with its capital raising exercise to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore by way of rights issue without consulting the significant shareholders.

  • Tata Sky introduces Blogbuster

    MUMBAI: On its eleventh anniversary, Tata Sky, a growing brand in the DTH industry, introduced Tata Sky Blogbuster – Tata Sky’s first ever official blog — http://blogbuster.tatasky.com/

    The blog will bring to you interesting and engaging content and story-telling in the field of entertainment.

    Tata Sky Blogbuster will cover original and exclusive pieces of content on trending topics in the field of movies & television entertainment. The topics on the blog range from Lifestyle, Sports, Entertainment, Regional content, Self-help and DIY too. The blog will also keep its viewers entertained and engaged through videos, interactive games, listicles and much more.

    Key Highlights:

    · Tata Sky Blogbuster will cover original and exclusive pieces of content on trending topics in the field of movies & television entertainment.
    · The topics on the blog range from Lifestyle, Sports, Entertainment, Regional content, Self-help and DIY too. The blog will also keep its viewers entertained and engaged through videos, interactive games, listicles and much more.
    · Over the last 11 years, Tata Sky has revolutionised Indian home entertainment by ensuring to bring pioneering experiences to customers that not only delight but also ease their ways of life.
    · Features such as PVR (Personal Video Recorder) set-top box, to first ever Daily Recharge vouchers or DIY (Do-It-Yourself) videos and an array of successful interactive services have established Tata Sky as a brand to eagerly look forward to. Therefore, living up to its promise of offering Indian subscribers a world-class television viewing experience, through its satellite television service.

  • DTH subscriber growth retards in Q1-16 as per TRAI data

    DTH subscriber growth retards in Q1-16 as per TRAI data

    BENGALURU: We at www.indiantelevision.com had noted and said thatContrary to expectations that the sunset date of 31 December 31, 2015 (Q3-16 in financial terms in India) would rake in good numbers for the DTH industry for Q4-16 the subscriber base growth just did not happen.At that time, results declared by three of India’s seven DTH players whose results are available un public domain did notshow much of a change.Further, at that time, though Airtel Digital TV and Videocon d2h had both shown a small spike in subscriber additions between Q2-2016 and Q3-2016, overall taking the combined addition in subscription numbers by all the three, the change was just 3.59per cent. In the case of the third player-Dish TV, it witnessed the lowest growth over a five quarter period starting Q3-2015 until Q3-16 at 2.19 per cent.

    Results for Q4-16 (quarter ended 31 March 2016) showed a reversal of sorts in that trend. Dish TV announced that it had added 5 lakh subscribers – the highest additions in fiscal 2016. Airtel DTH and Videocon d2h added 6.19 lakh and 5.9 lakh subscribers respectively and each reported approximately 11 percent quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) growth in operating profits in that quarter.It may be noted that TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority Regulatorreports for Q3-16 (quarter ended 31 December 2015) of the net active subscriber base included temporarily suspended subscribers that have been inactive for not more than 120 days – hence reflecting a huge 36 percent growth in active subscribers for that quarter.

    Besides Airtel DTH, Dish TV and Videocon d2h, there are three other private DTH players in India – Reliance, Sun Direct and Tata Sky, and the government’s FreeDish. Airtel DTH, Dish TV and Videocon d2h (the three players in this report) represent about 65 percent of the private DTH active subscriber universe in India. Please refer to Fig A below:

    public://image1.jpg

    FreeDish DTH service – the largest DTH player by far in terms of subscribers with an estimated 15 million or 1.5 crore subscribers in 2015 as per the KPMG-FICCI Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report 2016 (KPMG-FICCI M&E Report 2016) titled The Future: Now streaming. It must however be noted that an exact number for registered or active subscribers is not available since this is a free DTH service. The proposed merger of Videocon d2h with Dish TV will create the largest private television carriage player in India and the second largest in the world, be it cable, internet television or DTH or any other.

    As per numbers released by TRAI for Q4-16 and the quarter ended 30 June 2016 (Q1-17), the growth of registered and active DTH subscribers has reduced from 4.5 percent and 4.6 percent in Q4-16 to 3.3 percent and 3.4 percent respectively in Q1-17. Overall, DTH active subscribers grew by 19.7 lakh or 8.06 percent q-o-q in Q1-17 to 605 lakh active subscribers (66 percent of registered subscribers) from 585.3 lakh (also 66 percent of registered subscribers) in Q4-16. The three players in this report contributed a combined 12.95 lakh or 65.74 percent in subscriber growth. Registered subscriber numbers were 915.3 lakh and 886.4 lakh in Q1-17 and Q4-16 respectively. In Q3-16, registered subscribers were 848 lakh.

    In Q1-17, 4.65 lakh (3.97 percent growth), 4 lakh (2.76 percent growth) and 4.3 lakh (3.6 percent growth) were added q-o-q by Airtel DTH, Dish TV and Videocon d2h respectively.

    Among the three, Airtel DTH added more net subscribers in absolute numbers in FY-16 than in FY-15, Dish TV added approximately the same number of net subscribers in both FY-15 and FY-16, while Videocon d2h saw slightly lower absolute net subscribers increment in FY-16 as compared to FY-15. Airtel DTH added 55.6 percent more subscribers in FY-16 – 16.52 lakh to reach net subscriber base of 117.52 lakh as compared to 10.62 lakh in FY-15; Dish TV added 15 lakh subscribers in FY-16 as well as in the previous year; Dish TV’s subscriber base was 145 lakh in FY-16; Videocon d2h added 16.8 lakh subscribers in FY-16 to reach a subscriber base of 118.6 lakh as compared to 17.4 lakh subscriber additions in FY-15. The above numbers are based on the financial results/investor presentations reported by the three DTH entities.

    Please refer to Fig B below.

    public://image2.jpg

    ARPU has been steadily increasing in the case of Airtel DTH and Videocon d2h, while it has was constant in the case of Dish TV at Rs 174 in Q4-16 as well as Q1-17. In Q2-17, however, Dish TV’s ARPU has dipped q-o-q by a huge Rs 12 to Rs 162.

    For the first time in Q1-17, despite having the largest subscriber base amongst the top three, Dish TV’s revenues have been the lowest. In Q2-17, Airtel DTH reported the highest revenue amongst the three followed by Dish TV, with Videocon d2h’s revenue lower by just a few crore rupees. This could be mainly because Dish TV is more of a value player, whilst the other two are premium players.  It may be noted Videocon d2h’s ARPU in Q2-17 has also dipped q-o-q by Rs 10 to Rs 209. Please refer to Fig C below for revenue and ARPU trends (Revenue numbers have been rounded off to the nearest Rs crore, ARPU numbers are in Indian Rupees, Rs)

    public://IMAGE3.jpg

    Let us see how the three have performed in Q1-17

    Airtel DTH

    Revenue from Airtel’s DTH segment in Q1-17 increased 22.2 per cent to Rs 836.9 crore as compared to Rs 684.8 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Airtel’s DTH segment reported EBIT (Earnings before interest and tax) of Rs 121.9 crore (14.6 per cent operating margin) in Q1-17 as compared to EBIT of Rs 41.5 crore (6.1 percent operating margin) in Q1-16.

    Airtel DTH added 4.24 lakh net subscribers in Q1-17 to bring its subscriber base to 121.9 lakh from 117.25 lakh in the previous quarter. Average revenue per user (ARPU) increased to Rs 233 from Rs 229 in the immediate trailing quarter. Airtel DTH reported a monthly subscriber churn of 0.8 percent in Q1-17, same as the churn in Q1-16 and Q4-16.

    Dish TV

    Dish TV reported 6.7 percent higher y-o-y subscription revenue of Rs 728.2 crore for Q1-17, as compared to Rs 682.8 crore. Operating revenue in Q1-17 increased 5.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 778.6 crore from Rs 736.7 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

    Dish TV says that:
    (1.1) For Q1-17, subscription revenue, on a like-to-like basis, was Rs 766.9 crore, a growth of 12.3 percent y-o-y.
    (1.2) For Q1-17 operating revenue, on a like-to-like basis, was Rs 817.2 crore, a growth of 10.9 percent y-o-y.

    Dish TV reported PAT of Rs. 40.9 crore in Q1-17, down 24.5 percent as compared to Rs 54.2 crore in Q1-16.

    EBIDTA in the Q1-17 increased 12.2 percent to Rs 264.6 crore from Rs 235.7 crore in Q1-16.

    The company reported addition of 4.02 lakh net subscribers for Q1-17. It closed the quarter with 149 lakh subscribers. Average revenue per user (ARPU) for Q1-17 remained the same year-over-year (y-o-y) and quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) at Rs 174.

    Videocon d2h

    Videocon d2h is the second listed Indian DTH player to report a profit after tax (PAT), after the Essel group’s Dish TV that turned the numbers black last year. Videocon d2h reported PAT of Rs 2.7 crore for Q1-17. For the corresponding year ago quarter (Q1-17), the company had reported a loss of Rs 24.4 crore and for the immediate trailing quarter (Q4-16) reported loss was Rs 21.2 crore.

    Videocon d2h subscription and activation revenue in Q1-17 increased 23.9 percent y-o-y to Rs 752.3 crore from Rs 607.3 crore and increased 6.6 percent q-o-q from Rs 705.6 crore.

    The DTH major also reported 15.5 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) growth in net subscriber number growth at 122.9 lakh for Q1-17 as compared to 106.4 lakh and a 3.6 percent quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) growth from118.6 lakh. Average revenue per user (ARPU) in Q1-17 increased to Rs 219 from Rs 205 in Q1-16 and from Rs 214 in the immediate trailing quarter.

    Subscriber monthly churn in the current quarter was 0.49 percent; in Q1-16 it was slightly lower at 0.46 percent, while in the immediate trailing quarter it was much higher at 0.58 percent.

    Comments

    There is not much of a change in the comments and conclusions drawn by us for FY-16 numbers. Overall, the pay DTH industry is turning profitable as is obvious from the results.

    DAS III and IV were/are sunshine periods for the television carriage industry. Activation revenues have been adding to the top lines and bottom lines of most of the players. Have they been able to optimise the opportunity that DAS has offered? Not fully! At present the focus of a majority of the players is more investor oriented, not viewer oriented. This has to change. DTH has the potential to grow even more than the predictions of the industry pundits, provided they get their act together in coming out with packaging – as has Dish TV to a limited extent. India is a price sensitive market, offer the viewers what they want at a reasonable price and the sheer volumes will bring in more and more moolah.And what happens to profits once the activation fee component goes down?

     

  • DTH subscriber growth retards in Q1-16 as per TRAI data

    DTH subscriber growth retards in Q1-16 as per TRAI data

    BENGALURU: We at www.indiantelevision.com had noted and said thatContrary to expectations that the sunset date of 31 December 31, 2015 (Q3-16 in financial terms in India) would rake in good numbers for the DTH industry for Q4-16 the subscriber base growth just did not happen.At that time, results declared by three of India’s seven DTH players whose results are available un public domain did notshow much of a change.Further, at that time, though Airtel Digital TV and Videocon d2h had both shown a small spike in subscriber additions between Q2-2016 and Q3-2016, overall taking the combined addition in subscription numbers by all the three, the change was just 3.59per cent. In the case of the third player-Dish TV, it witnessed the lowest growth over a five quarter period starting Q3-2015 until Q3-16 at 2.19 per cent.

    Results for Q4-16 (quarter ended 31 March 2016) showed a reversal of sorts in that trend. Dish TV announced that it had added 5 lakh subscribers – the highest additions in fiscal 2016. Airtel DTH and Videocon d2h added 6.19 lakh and 5.9 lakh subscribers respectively and each reported approximately 11 percent quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) growth in operating profits in that quarter.It may be noted that TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority Regulatorreports for Q3-16 (quarter ended 31 December 2015) of the net active subscriber base included temporarily suspended subscribers that have been inactive for not more than 120 days – hence reflecting a huge 36 percent growth in active subscribers for that quarter.

    Besides Airtel DTH, Dish TV and Videocon d2h, there are three other private DTH players in India – Reliance, Sun Direct and Tata Sky, and the government’s FreeDish. Airtel DTH, Dish TV and Videocon d2h (the three players in this report) represent about 65 percent of the private DTH active subscriber universe in India. Please refer to Fig A below:

    public://image1.jpg

    FreeDish DTH service – the largest DTH player by far in terms of subscribers with an estimated 15 million or 1.5 crore subscribers in 2015 as per the KPMG-FICCI Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report 2016 (KPMG-FICCI M&E Report 2016) titled The Future: Now streaming. It must however be noted that an exact number for registered or active subscribers is not available since this is a free DTH service. The proposed merger of Videocon d2h with Dish TV will create the largest private television carriage player in India and the second largest in the world, be it cable, internet television or DTH or any other.

    As per numbers released by TRAI for Q4-16 and the quarter ended 30 June 2016 (Q1-17), the growth of registered and active DTH subscribers has reduced from 4.5 percent and 4.6 percent in Q4-16 to 3.3 percent and 3.4 percent respectively in Q1-17. Overall, DTH active subscribers grew by 19.7 lakh or 8.06 percent q-o-q in Q1-17 to 605 lakh active subscribers (66 percent of registered subscribers) from 585.3 lakh (also 66 percent of registered subscribers) in Q4-16. The three players in this report contributed a combined 12.95 lakh or 65.74 percent in subscriber growth. Registered subscriber numbers were 915.3 lakh and 886.4 lakh in Q1-17 and Q4-16 respectively. In Q3-16, registered subscribers were 848 lakh.

    In Q1-17, 4.65 lakh (3.97 percent growth), 4 lakh (2.76 percent growth) and 4.3 lakh (3.6 percent growth) were added q-o-q by Airtel DTH, Dish TV and Videocon d2h respectively.

    Among the three, Airtel DTH added more net subscribers in absolute numbers in FY-16 than in FY-15, Dish TV added approximately the same number of net subscribers in both FY-15 and FY-16, while Videocon d2h saw slightly lower absolute net subscribers increment in FY-16 as compared to FY-15. Airtel DTH added 55.6 percent more subscribers in FY-16 – 16.52 lakh to reach net subscriber base of 117.52 lakh as compared to 10.62 lakh in FY-15; Dish TV added 15 lakh subscribers in FY-16 as well as in the previous year; Dish TV’s subscriber base was 145 lakh in FY-16; Videocon d2h added 16.8 lakh subscribers in FY-16 to reach a subscriber base of 118.6 lakh as compared to 17.4 lakh subscriber additions in FY-15. The above numbers are based on the financial results/investor presentations reported by the three DTH entities.

    Please refer to Fig B below.

    public://image2.jpg

    ARPU has been steadily increasing in the case of Airtel DTH and Videocon d2h, while it has was constant in the case of Dish TV at Rs 174 in Q4-16 as well as Q1-17. In Q2-17, however, Dish TV’s ARPU has dipped q-o-q by a huge Rs 12 to Rs 162.

    For the first time in Q1-17, despite having the largest subscriber base amongst the top three, Dish TV’s revenues have been the lowest. In Q2-17, Airtel DTH reported the highest revenue amongst the three followed by Dish TV, with Videocon d2h’s revenue lower by just a few crore rupees. This could be mainly because Dish TV is more of a value player, whilst the other two are premium players.  It may be noted Videocon d2h’s ARPU in Q2-17 has also dipped q-o-q by Rs 10 to Rs 209. Please refer to Fig C below for revenue and ARPU trends (Revenue numbers have been rounded off to the nearest Rs crore, ARPU numbers are in Indian Rupees, Rs)

    public://IMAGE3.jpg

    Let us see how the three have performed in Q1-17

    Airtel DTH

    Revenue from Airtel’s DTH segment in Q1-17 increased 22.2 per cent to Rs 836.9 crore as compared to Rs 684.8 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Airtel’s DTH segment reported EBIT (Earnings before interest and tax) of Rs 121.9 crore (14.6 per cent operating margin) in Q1-17 as compared to EBIT of Rs 41.5 crore (6.1 percent operating margin) in Q1-16.

    Airtel DTH added 4.24 lakh net subscribers in Q1-17 to bring its subscriber base to 121.9 lakh from 117.25 lakh in the previous quarter. Average revenue per user (ARPU) increased to Rs 233 from Rs 229 in the immediate trailing quarter. Airtel DTH reported a monthly subscriber churn of 0.8 percent in Q1-17, same as the churn in Q1-16 and Q4-16.

    Dish TV

    Dish TV reported 6.7 percent higher y-o-y subscription revenue of Rs 728.2 crore for Q1-17, as compared to Rs 682.8 crore. Operating revenue in Q1-17 increased 5.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 778.6 crore from Rs 736.7 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

    Dish TV says that:
    (1.1) For Q1-17, subscription revenue, on a like-to-like basis, was Rs 766.9 crore, a growth of 12.3 percent y-o-y.
    (1.2) For Q1-17 operating revenue, on a like-to-like basis, was Rs 817.2 crore, a growth of 10.9 percent y-o-y.

    Dish TV reported PAT of Rs. 40.9 crore in Q1-17, down 24.5 percent as compared to Rs 54.2 crore in Q1-16.

    EBIDTA in the Q1-17 increased 12.2 percent to Rs 264.6 crore from Rs 235.7 crore in Q1-16.

    The company reported addition of 4.02 lakh net subscribers for Q1-17. It closed the quarter with 149 lakh subscribers. Average revenue per user (ARPU) for Q1-17 remained the same year-over-year (y-o-y) and quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) at Rs 174.

    Videocon d2h

    Videocon d2h is the second listed Indian DTH player to report a profit after tax (PAT), after the Essel group’s Dish TV that turned the numbers black last year. Videocon d2h reported PAT of Rs 2.7 crore for Q1-17. For the corresponding year ago quarter (Q1-17), the company had reported a loss of Rs 24.4 crore and for the immediate trailing quarter (Q4-16) reported loss was Rs 21.2 crore.

    Videocon d2h subscription and activation revenue in Q1-17 increased 23.9 percent y-o-y to Rs 752.3 crore from Rs 607.3 crore and increased 6.6 percent q-o-q from Rs 705.6 crore.

    The DTH major also reported 15.5 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) growth in net subscriber number growth at 122.9 lakh for Q1-17 as compared to 106.4 lakh and a 3.6 percent quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) growth from118.6 lakh. Average revenue per user (ARPU) in Q1-17 increased to Rs 219 from Rs 205 in Q1-16 and from Rs 214 in the immediate trailing quarter.

    Subscriber monthly churn in the current quarter was 0.49 percent; in Q1-16 it was slightly lower at 0.46 percent, while in the immediate trailing quarter it was much higher at 0.58 percent.

    Comments

    There is not much of a change in the comments and conclusions drawn by us for FY-16 numbers. Overall, the pay DTH industry is turning profitable as is obvious from the results.

    DAS III and IV were/are sunshine periods for the television carriage industry. Activation revenues have been adding to the top lines and bottom lines of most of the players. Have they been able to optimise the opportunity that DAS has offered? Not fully! At present the focus of a majority of the players is more investor oriented, not viewer oriented. This has to change. DTH has the potential to grow even more than the predictions of the industry pundits, provided they get their act together in coming out with packaging – as has Dish TV to a limited extent. India is a price sensitive market, offer the viewers what they want at a reasonable price and the sheer volumes will bring in more and more moolah.And what happens to profits once the activation fee component goes down?

     

  • Q1-17: Dish TV adds 4 lakh subs, subscription revenue up at Rs 728 cr

    Q1-17: Dish TV adds 4 lakh subs, subscription revenue up at Rs 728 cr

    BENGALURU: Indian direct to home (DTH) television operator Dish TV India Limited (Dish TV) has reported growth across important financial and operational parameters including operating revenues (TIO) , EBIDTA and subscription numbers. The company announced the addition of 402,000 net subscribers for the quarter ended 30 June 2016 (Q1-17, current). It closed the quarter with 149 lakh subscribers. Average revenue per user (ARPU) for Q1-17 remained the same year-over-year (y-o-y) and quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) at Rs 174.

    Dish TV reported 6.7 percent higher y-o-y subscription revenue of Rs 728.2 crore for Q1-17, as compared to Rs 682.8 crore. Operating revenue in the current quarter increased 5.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 778.6 crore from Rs 736.7 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. (Refer Note 2.1 and 2.2 below)

    Dish TV reported PAT of Rs. 50.9 crore in Q1-17, down 24.6 percent as compared to Rs 54.2 crore in Q1-16.

    EBIDTA in the current quarter increased 12.2 percent to Rs 264.6 crore from Rs 235.7 crore in Q1-16.

    Total expense in the current quarter increased 2.6 percent y-o-y to Rs 513.9 crore (66 percent of revenue) from Rs 500.9 crore (68 percent of revenue). (Refer note 2.3 below). Personnel cost increased 9.8 percent y-o-y to Rs 38.1 crore (4.9 percent of revenue) from Rs 34.7 crore (4.7 percent of revenue). Cost of sales and services declined 1.8 percent y-o-y to Rs 358.4 crore (46 percent of revenue) from Rs 365 crore (49.5 percent of revenue).

    Dish TV managing director Jawahar Goel said, “Buoyed by digitization, notwithstanding the relative seasonal weakness in 1Q, the industry collectively added around 15 percent higher subscribers compared to the same quarter last fiscal. Dish TV maintained its lead in incremental subscriber additions during the quarter. Our strengthened distribution in DAS Phase III and IV areas along with the popularity of the Dish TV Insta Care – 4- Hour Service Assurance Campaign were instrumental in helping us maintain an edge over competition. Our regional and mass-market offerings continued to remain crowd-pullers in respective geographies.”

    “The consumers growing passion for HD has the potential to trigger yet another round of growth, beyond that being driven by digitization, for the DTH industry. Going forward, we would continue to build on our HD advantage while focusing on its sales across the country,” Goel added.

    To further enhance the digital TV experience for subscribers and build an affordable and fast deployment model for itself, Dish TV recently selected Wyplay’s Frog as the Middleware for its next generation Set-Top-Boxes. Wyplay is an HTML5 browser based system and incorporates all features required for traditional linear broadcast TV consumption, on-demand content and applications distributed over the internet.

    Talking about the first quarter results, Goel said, “Healthy subscriber additions led to a 12.3 percent y-o-y increase in subscription revenues (on a like-to-like basis). EBITDA margin bounced to 34.0 percent from 32.0 per cent in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. Net Profit for the quarter was Rs. 409 million leading to FCF generation of Rs. 627 million. Churn for the quarter at 0.7 percent per month remained well within manageable limits.”

    Expressing his views on other regulatory overhangs Goel, said, “An industry favourable resolution of the DTH license fee matter should go a long way in ensuring non-discrimination amongst various distribution platforms in the country. We are also hopeful of a just and logical outcome of the currently debated TRAI consultation paper on Interconnection Framework for Broadcasting TV Services Distributed through Addressable Systems.”

    Notes: (1) The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

    (2) Dish TV says

    (2.1) For Q1-17, subscription revenue, on a like-to-like basis, was Rs 766.9 crore, a growth of 12.3 percent y-o-y.

    (2.2) For Q1-17 operating revenue, on a like-to-like basis, was Rs 817.2 crore, a growth of 10.9 percent y-o-y.

    (2.3) For Q1-17, COGS, on a like-to-like basis, was Rs 3,97 crore, a change of 8.8 percent y-o-y. The resultant Total Expense, on-a like-to-like basis, was Rs. 552.6 crore, a change of 10.3 percent y-o-y.

  • Q1-17: Dish TV adds 4 lakh subs, subscription revenue up at Rs 728 cr

    Q1-17: Dish TV adds 4 lakh subs, subscription revenue up at Rs 728 cr

    BENGALURU: Indian direct to home (DTH) television operator Dish TV India Limited (Dish TV) has reported growth across important financial and operational parameters including operating revenues (TIO) , EBIDTA and subscription numbers. The company announced the addition of 402,000 net subscribers for the quarter ended 30 June 2016 (Q1-17, current). It closed the quarter with 149 lakh subscribers. Average revenue per user (ARPU) for Q1-17 remained the same year-over-year (y-o-y) and quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) at Rs 174.

    Dish TV reported 6.7 percent higher y-o-y subscription revenue of Rs 728.2 crore for Q1-17, as compared to Rs 682.8 crore. Operating revenue in the current quarter increased 5.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 778.6 crore from Rs 736.7 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. (Refer Note 2.1 and 2.2 below)

    Dish TV reported PAT of Rs. 50.9 crore in Q1-17, down 24.6 percent as compared to Rs 54.2 crore in Q1-16.

    EBIDTA in the current quarter increased 12.2 percent to Rs 264.6 crore from Rs 235.7 crore in Q1-16.

    Total expense in the current quarter increased 2.6 percent y-o-y to Rs 513.9 crore (66 percent of revenue) from Rs 500.9 crore (68 percent of revenue). (Refer note 2.3 below). Personnel cost increased 9.8 percent y-o-y to Rs 38.1 crore (4.9 percent of revenue) from Rs 34.7 crore (4.7 percent of revenue). Cost of sales and services declined 1.8 percent y-o-y to Rs 358.4 crore (46 percent of revenue) from Rs 365 crore (49.5 percent of revenue).

    Dish TV managing director Jawahar Goel said, “Buoyed by digitization, notwithstanding the relative seasonal weakness in 1Q, the industry collectively added around 15 percent higher subscribers compared to the same quarter last fiscal. Dish TV maintained its lead in incremental subscriber additions during the quarter. Our strengthened distribution in DAS Phase III and IV areas along with the popularity of the Dish TV Insta Care – 4- Hour Service Assurance Campaign were instrumental in helping us maintain an edge over competition. Our regional and mass-market offerings continued to remain crowd-pullers in respective geographies.”

    “The consumers growing passion for HD has the potential to trigger yet another round of growth, beyond that being driven by digitization, for the DTH industry. Going forward, we would continue to build on our HD advantage while focusing on its sales across the country,” Goel added.

    To further enhance the digital TV experience for subscribers and build an affordable and fast deployment model for itself, Dish TV recently selected Wyplay’s Frog as the Middleware for its next generation Set-Top-Boxes. Wyplay is an HTML5 browser based system and incorporates all features required for traditional linear broadcast TV consumption, on-demand content and applications distributed over the internet.

    Talking about the first quarter results, Goel said, “Healthy subscriber additions led to a 12.3 percent y-o-y increase in subscription revenues (on a like-to-like basis). EBITDA margin bounced to 34.0 percent from 32.0 per cent in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. Net Profit for the quarter was Rs. 409 million leading to FCF generation of Rs. 627 million. Churn for the quarter at 0.7 percent per month remained well within manageable limits.”

    Expressing his views on other regulatory overhangs Goel, said, “An industry favourable resolution of the DTH license fee matter should go a long way in ensuring non-discrimination amongst various distribution platforms in the country. We are also hopeful of a just and logical outcome of the currently debated TRAI consultation paper on Interconnection Framework for Broadcasting TV Services Distributed through Addressable Systems.”

    Notes: (1) The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

    (2) Dish TV says

    (2.1) For Q1-17, subscription revenue, on a like-to-like basis, was Rs 766.9 crore, a growth of 12.3 percent y-o-y.

    (2.2) For Q1-17 operating revenue, on a like-to-like basis, was Rs 817.2 crore, a growth of 10.9 percent y-o-y.

    (2.3) For Q1-17, COGS, on a like-to-like basis, was Rs 3,97 crore, a change of 8.8 percent y-o-y. The resultant Total Expense, on-a like-to-like basis, was Rs. 552.6 crore, a change of 10.3 percent y-o-y.

  • Industry welcomes reduction of CENVAT on STBs

    Industry welcomes reduction of CENVAT on STBs

    MUMBAI: The Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in his Vote on Account speech in Parliament today announced a proposed reduction of excise duty from 12 per cent to 10 per cent on all goods falling under chapter 84 and 85 of the schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act for the period up to 30 June, 2014. With effect from today, CENVAT on Consumer Premises Equipment (CPE) has been reduced.

     

    The reduction in excise duty would be a great relief even to the DTH and TV industry. In fact, Dish TV welcomed the announcement as they hope this would give the DTH sector in India some respite from the levy of multiple taxes.

     

    The Direct to Home operator Dish TV which had been requesting the government to waive 12.36 per cent service tax till the rollout of GST and rationalise other taxes imposed on the DTH industry applauded the duty reduction move as its Set Top Boxes and other Consumer Premises Equipment fall under Chapter 85 of the Schedule.

     

    “This is a small relief. But any relief is welcome,” says Dish TV CEO RC Venkateish, further adding, “We still need to evaluate the reduction to be able to decide what it translates for the consumer and if they would see any reduction of cost for our services.” 

     

    Dish TV will evaluate the reduction in the next couple of days. “It is a highly taxed industry with dual taxation of entertainment and service tax. Major relief will be felt only if these two are reduced or one of them is eliminated,” says Venkatesh.

     

    “This reduction means that we will save some Rs 50-60 per Set Top Box (STB). So for a volume of say 2-2.5 million STB, we will save close to Rs 10-15 crore,” he informs.

  • Indian DTH industry to benefit from digitisation, says MPA

    Indian DTH industry to benefit from digitisation, says MPA

    MUMBAI: India‘s move to digitise its fragmented and unorganised cable TV sector is going to give a fillip to the seven odd Indian DTH operators, according to Singapore based pay TV research firm Media Partners Asia (MPA).

    This is totally contrary to the behavior observed on the ground in the first two phases of digitisation wherein cable TV has held its ground and consumers have not really rushed out to buy DTH boxes even though analogue signals have been switched off.

    The MPA report says that revenues for DTH operators are expected to treble to over $5 billion by 2020 as mandatory cable TV digitisation would help the DTH players expand their subscriber base.

    It adds that DTH industry revenues will reach $3.9 billion by 2017 and $5.3 billion by 2020 on the back of a growth in subscriber numbers. Estimates are that the India™s DTH players raked in $1.5 billion last year.

    MPA says that active DTH subscribers will grow from 32.4 million in 2012 to 63.8 million by 2017 and 76.6 million by 2020. The figure for 2011 was at 28.7 million. The increase in active subscribers in 2012 over 2011 was a mere 3.7 million which is alarming, it says.

    The report points out that the content deals between operators and content aggregators such as IndiaCast, MediaPro and TheOneAlliance are likely to be on a cost per subscriber basis rather than a fixed rate as was the practice earlier.

    As it is DTH operators have been making efforts to improve their per subscriber economics over the past year by increasing the number of packages and entry level pricing. They have also tried to reduce churn levels by reducing trade margins and the window of free viewing by new subscribers, revealed MPA.

    The report warns that marketing and staff expenses will remain high with DTH operators as the rollout of digitisation makes further inroads into the remaining parts of India.

    MPA has also given the pecking order of the leading DTH players. Dish TV continues to lead with a market share of 27 per cent in terms of gross additions, while Videocon d2h leads in terms of incremental additions in 2012.

    Tata Sky and Airtel Digital TV have 19 and 18 per cent market share, respectively. These four players together accounted for 88 per cent of total gross additions last year, says MPA.