Dish TV FY21 operating rev down 8.6% to Rs 3249.4 cr amid subscriber churn

Advertisement income dropped 38.4% to Rs 34 crore from Rs 55.2 crore

by exchange4media Staff
Published: Jul 2, 2021 8:15 AM | 5 min read

Direct to home (DTH) operator Dish TV has reported an 8.6% drop in operating revenues to Rs 3249.4 crore in FY21 from Rs 3556.3 crore in the previous fiscal. The company's subscriber base saw a reduction due to low subscriber additions and a high churn.

Dish TV stated there was a problem in running the business as everything else was shut. Fresh content from broadcasters was paused, and hardware import, local assembly lines, distributors, dealers, markets, call centres and all offices of the Company, everything was inoperational.

The company has seen a 6.4% decline in subscription revenues at Rs 2987.4 crore for the fiscal ended March 2021 as against Rs 3192.8 crore in FY20. Additional marketing, promotional fee and bandwidth charges dropped 20.9% at Rs 152.1 crore from Rs 192.2 crore. Advertisement income dropped 38.4% to Rs 34 crore from Rs 55.2 crore.

Expenditure for the fiscal fell 15% to Rs 1232.4 crore from Rs 1450.4 crore. EBITDA was down 4.2% at Rs 2017 crore from Rs 2106 crore. The company's net loss narrowed 28.1% to Rs 1189.9 crore from Rs 1654.8 crore.

Dish TV India Group CEO Anil Dua noted that an increase in subscriber churn, possibly to free to air platforms, due to continuing economic hardship amongst the vulnerable sections of the population cannot be ruled out. "We however remain optimistic about the virtually perpetual relevance of television and believe that a revival in discretionary spending, due to economic activity normalizing going forward, will improve business revenues.”

Dua also said that the later part of the fourth quarter saw the re-emergence of urban to rural migration, amongst migrant workers, due to a spike in Covid-19 infections in cities. "As it is, sporadic lockdowns during the course of the year had left many in the aspiring class with reduced disposable incomes, while taking a toll on overall consumer confidence. Subscriber churn, thus, remained on the higher side during the quarter and full year."

For the quarter ended 31st March, the company's operating revenues declined 13.5% to Rs 751.7 crore from Rs 869.1 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal. Subscription revenue was down 11.8% at Rs 685.2 crore from Rs 776.6 crore a year ago.

Additional marketing, promotional fee and bandwidth charges fell 36.5% to Rs 36.2 crore from Rs 57 crore. Advertisement income was up 7.1% to Rs 12.9 crore from Rs 12.1 crore.

Expenditure remained flat at Rs 325.7 crore as against Rs 325.8 crore. The net loss fell 2.8% to Rs 1415.2 crore compared to Rs 1456.2 crore. EBITDA was down 21.6% to Rs 426 crore from Rs 543.2 crore.

In a statement, Dish TV said that the Goodwill acquired pursuant to the merger of the Company with erstwhile Videocon d2H Limited is periodically tested for impairment to ensure that it is carried at no more than its recoverable amount.

Impairment testing of goodwill allocated to the d2h cash-generating unit (CGU) was performed at the balance sheet date, and an impairment loss amounting to Rs. 579 crore was recognised in respect of d2h CGU. In addition, an impairment loss of Rs. 200.8 crore was recognised on Trademark/Brand.

The Company paid upwards of Rs. 213 crore towards debt during the quarter thus reducing its overall leverage to Rs. 809.9 crore at the end of fiscal 2021 as compared to Rs. 1817.5 crore at the close of fiscal 2020.

Dish TV CMD Jawahar Goel said, “Thanks to all the stakeholders of Dish TV, the Company has so far been able to rise to the challenges thrown by the pandemic. The year gone by was difficult, but has left us stronger with all the innovations and process improvements in place. However, with continuing uncertainties, we maintain a cautious stand. A strong balance sheet boosts confidence in such tough times, and our focus on paying down debt and other liabilities is in that direction only.”

Dish TV said that its home-grown OTT platform ‘Watcho’ has seen tremendous growth in its viewers since the beginning of the pandemic last year and has emerged as a fresh new platform for them. Early during the quarter, ‘Watcho’ crossed the milestone of 15 million user base. Soon thereafter, on April 7, 2021, ‘Watcho’ crossed yet another landmark of 25 million viewers. The platform witnessed explosive growth, recording 25 million-plus viewers from just over 1 million users in January 2020.

Available across screens - Android and iOS devices, Dish SMRT devices, d2h Magic devices, Fire TV stick and on its dedicated website, ‘Watcho’ provides over 50 original shows and more than 800 hours of engaging content across diverse genres and in multiple Indian languages.

Speaking about Watcho, Dua noted, “We are thrilled to achieve the 25 million milestone in such a short span of time. At Dish TV India, it has always been our endeavour to meet the entertainment needs of all our subscribers all the time. ‘Watcho,’ is a step in that direction and delivers a seamless, streaming entertainment experience to viewers through future ready technology and diverse content.”

Keeping in mind the requirement for funds in the company, the Board of Directors of Dish TV India Limited, on February 17, 2021, had considered and approved a proposal for raising of funds. The Board had considered various options for fund-raising and had granted in principle approval to explore and initiate the process of fund-raising through permissible modes and issue of permissible securities, for an amount up to Rs. 1,000 crores, in one or more tranches, in accordance with applicable laws.

The Board had constituted a ‘Fund Raising Committee’ for recommending, taking actions and monitoring in the matters of raising funds and related matters thereof.