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India’s direct to home television sector continued to reflect pressure in the second quarter of FY26, with the financial performance of key operators mirroring the continued decline in active subscribers and the structural shift toward connected TV and OTT streaming.
While Airtel Digital TV and Dish TV declared their quarterly numbers, comparable data for Sun Direct and Tata Play was not available for the period, although broader industry indicators and past annual results provide context on the overall slowdown.
Dish TV’s operating performance remained weak in Q2 FY26. Its total income fell to Rs 299.2 crore from Rs 400 crore in Q2 FY25, a decline of 25.2 percent. Airtel Digital TV posted relatively stable numbers with revenue of Rs 753 crore in Q2 FY26 compared to Rs 758 crore in the same quarter last year, reflecting a marginal decline of 0.66 percent.
For the first half of the fiscal, Dish TV’s income dropped sharply to Rs 633.4 crore from Rs 861.5 crore in H1 FY25, a fall of 26.5 percent. Airtel Digital TV’s revenue for H1 FY26 was Rs 1,516 crore, slightly lower than Rs 1,535 crore in the previous year, a dip of 1.24 percent.
Tata Play’s most recent disclosed financials are for FY25, where revenue fell to Rs 4,109 crore from Rs 4,327 crore in FY24, representing a 5.05 percent decline.
Sun TV Network’s DTH service, Sun Direct, did not provide quarterly revenue figures for FY26, but its operating income for the first nine months of FY25 dropped to Rs 939 crore from Rs 1,042 crore in FY24 according to industry sources, marking a decline of 9.88 percent.
Also read: Dish TV loss widens from Rs 37 crore to Rs 132 crore in Q2 FY26
Sun TV Network posts 30% growth in Q2 revenue
The performance of DTH operators in Q2 FY26 reinforces the challenges facing the traditional pay TV business. Subscription revenue trends continued to mirror the overall decline in user additions.
Dish TV’s subscription income in Q2 FY26 fell to Rs 232.4 crore from Rs 278.5 crore in Q2 FY25, a drop of 16.6 percent. Tata Play had reported subscription revenue of Rs 2,980 crore in FY25, down from Rs 3,224 crore in the previous year, a decline of 7.57 percent, reflecting continued churn. Comparable subscription numbers for Airtel Digital TV, Sun Direct and Tata Play for Q2 FY26 were not available.
Also read: Tata Play-Airtel Digital TV merger deal in last stages: Reports
Subscriber numbers and market context
Subscriber attrition continued to be the defining theme across the industry. Airtel Digital TV’s customer base fell by 3.4 lakh sequentially in Q2 FY26, slipping to 1.53 crore from 1.57 crore in Q1. On a year-on-year basis, the platform saw a decline of 2.8 percent from 1.58 crore users in Q2 FY25.
TRAI’s active subscriber data provides a deeper background to this trend. The combined subscriber base of the four DTH operators fell from 62.17 million in June 2024 to 56.07 million by June 2025. The fall was gradual through the year, reflecting persistence rather than volatility. Between June 2024 and September 2024, the active base fell from 62.17 million to 59.91 million. It dropped further to 58.22 million in December 2024 and 56.92 million in March 2025 before reaching a low of 56.07 million in June 2025.
Market shares remained largely stable despite the contraction. Tata Play held 31.42 percent of active DTH users as of June 2025. Airtel Digital TV had 29.33 percent, Sun Direct 20.13 percent and Dish TV 19.13 percent. The distribution was similar in March 2025, indicating that the decline has been industry wide rather than specific to any single operator.
Broader financial stress across operators
Beyond Q2 FY26, earlier quarterly and annual filings highlight the difficult operational environment for all platforms. Dish TV’s total income in Q1 FY26 fell 27.7 percent year on year to Rs 329.4 crore, while losses widened sharply. Airtel Digital TV’s Q1 FY26 revenue of Rs 763 crore represented a 1.8 percent year on year dip, although management noted share gains and structural cost changes to improve the business. Tata Play’s consolidated net loss widened dramatically to Rs 510 crore in FY25 and its subscriber base dropped to 18 million from a peak of 23 million.
The financial strain is also reflected at the sector level. According to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, non-tax revenue from DTH services fell to Rs 648.73 crore in FY25 from Rs 692 crore in FY24 and remained significantly below the Rs 859.96 crore reported in FY23.
Industry experts said the latest numbers underscore how the DTH business is entering a phase of irreversible churn. They said the quarterly results show that even the stronger operators are struggling to maintain revenue momentum as subscriber losses accelerate.
The industry now depends heavily on hybrid and bundled models for survival because traditional pay TV growth has flattened and the shift to connected and digital viewing is becoming dominant.
Structural shifts underpinning the decline
The decline in subscribers and revenue comes amid a broader transformation in how Indian households consume video content. TRAI’s subscriber data captures the cumulative effect of OTT adoption, rising connected TV penetration and the growing appeal of DD Free Dish among price sensitive households. Broadcasters themselves have slowed the launch of new satellite channels, with the total number of permitted channels stagnating around 912 to 918 over a year, indicating the shift of investment toward digital content strategies.
Operators are now focusing on hybrid offerings, bundled OTT access and broadband expansion to mitigate the decline. The next phase of the market will depend on how effectively these players can adapt to changing consumer behaviour as satellite television’s role in India’s entertainment ecosystem continues to evolve.