Dish TV Q3 operating revenue down 12.9% to Rs 710.7 crore

Direct to home (DTH) operator Dish TV's operating revenue for the quarter ended 31st December 2021 has dropped 12.9% to Rs 710.7 crore compared to Rs 815.7 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Subscription revenue fell 13.3% to Rs 645.9 crore from Rs 744.9 crore a year ago. Additional marketing, promotional fees, and bandwidth charges shrank 10% to Rs 38.6 crore from Rs 42.9 crore. Advertisement income jumped 18.1% to Rs 11.3 crore from Rs 9.6 crore.

EBITDA declined 15.5% to Rs 426 crore against Rs 503.9 crore. Net profit for the period was down 7.1% to Rs 80.2 crore from Rs 86.4 crore. Expenditure decreased 8.7% to Rs 284.7 crore from Rs 311.7 crore. 

The company said that the focus on gaining incremental market share helped it ramp up gross acquisitions to almost the pre-pandemic level, though continued dependence exclusively on internal funds restricted the ability of the business to go all out thus keeping net additions under pressure. 

Dish TV India took a price hike of around 25% on both its standard definition and high definition hardware during the quarter. With rural stress and inflationary pressures, price-sensitive customers at the bottom of the pyramid remained vulnerable to churn to the Free DTH platform. Streaming platforms as well as content bundling by telecom players continued to give competition to the DTH service providers.

Dish TV Group CEO Anil Dua said, “As a category, DTH has been facing competition at various levels however the platform has the unique strengths that will continue to set it apart from other video platforms. We remain committed to offering the best solution to our subscribers, be it in the linear or OTT space, and hope to change the game with innovative offerings and winning partnerships.”

Dish TV Group CEO Anil Dua said, “As a category, DTH has been facing competition at various levels however the platform has the unique strengths that will continue to set it apart from other video platforms. We remain committed to offering the best solution to our subscribers, be it in the linear or OTT space, and hope to change the game with innovative offerings and winning partnerships.”

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), on stakeholders’ request, recently extended the deadline for enforcing the New Tariff Order (NTO) 2.0 to June 1, 2022, from the earlier fixed deadline of April 1, 2022. Broadcasters had earlier approached the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court order in favour of the NTO 2.0. The Supreme Court is yet to announce its decision.

Dish TV India CMD Jawahar Goel said, “The DTH industry has been working on the implementation of the New Tariff Order keeping in mind the earlier deadline however the extended timeline will give us even more time to sort out any migration issues. We would also be watching the developments on the litigation front while simultaneously working towards implementation of the order.”

Watcho - the in-house OTT app of Dish TV India - continued to strengthen its presence in the OTT space. During the quarter, Watcho ’partnered with Asia’s largest content festival - India Film Project (IFP) for its 11th season to encourage emerging artists and content creators to showcase their work. The association allowed participants to submit their original content on Watcho’s creator platform called ‘Watcho SWAG’ and subsequently view their entries on the App itself.

This festive season Watcho’s slate of original series continued to expand with the release of a new family series –‘Papa Ka Scooter’ and a nail-biting crime series – ‘Jaunpur’. The company had a closing debt of Rs 453.5 crore at the end of the quarter.