Dish TV records subscription revenue of Rs 645 crore in Q2
Advertisement income was up 39.2% to Rs 12 crore from Rs 8.3 crore for the quarter ended 30th September
Expenditure dropped 9.3% to Rs 291 crore from Rs 321 crore. EBITDA for the quarter was down 19% to Rs 427 crore from Rs 525 crore. Net profit fell 45% to Rs 35.4 crore from Rs 65 crore. The company repaid debt of Rs 70 crore during the quarter to arrive at a closing debt of Rs 557 crore.
The DTH operator added more than 600,000 subscribers at the gross level. At a net level, though, the company recorded negative additions, prioritizing repayment of debt over adding fresh subscribers.
In line with the objective of increasing the lifetime value of subscribers, the company remained concentrated on retention and upgradation campaigns. Further, to increase stickiness, ‘Watcho’ — the in-house OTT app of the company was loaded with fresh curated content.
The platform debuted several new web series to further enhance the complimentary bouquet of offerings for Dish TV India subscribers. ‘Watcho’ continued to gain strength as an OTT platform with a strong semi urban presence in addition to a significant tier-1 visibility. The app has recorded total cumulative downloads of 36 million so far.
Dish TV India Group CEO Anil Dua said, “We remain focused in our efforts to drive business performance using tools that enhance the viewing experience of subscribers on both, the traditional and the OTT offering. We remain sensitive to changing consumer needs and look forward to new launches and a wider audience base.”
During the quarter, Dish TV India Limited announced the launch of its ‘QR Scan Feature.’ The scan to pay feature aims at giving customers a hassle-free single click payment experience when it comes to recharging their Dish TV account or paying utility bills.
Dish TV and d2h subscribers will now be able to pay their bills in a few simple steps by scanning the QR code on the company’s websites, dishtv.in and d2h.com, using any UPI app or wallet. UPI is currently the easiest and the most secure way of digital payments owing to its multifactor authentication which requires the users to verify themselves via multiple sources.
The company noted that the onset of the festival period towards the end of the second quarter along with some normalization in consumer spending post the second wave of the pandemic encouraged the launch of customized new offerings for existing as well as new subscribers.
Dish TV India launched a special ‘Get 1 for 5 Recharge Offer’ as per which a complimentary month of subscription was provided for every five months of recharge. In addition, a ‘Lucky Recharge Offer’ wherein customers could avail up to 100% cashback on recharge of Rs. 501 was also launched.
The DTH operator noted that household spending did not fully recover during the quarter and despite a fairly extensive sports calendar, recharges were not in line with earlier years. “Both, streaming platforms and Free Dish, continued to give competition to conventional distributors, with some DTH subscribers at the upper end exploring OTT services while those at the lower end sampling Free Dish services.”
Consumers typically tend to step up spending during festivals, and the festive season traditionally accounts for the majority of the annual revenues of the Company. Upbeat consumer spending is expected during the festival quarter this year compared to the same quarter last year.
On NTO 2.0 implementation, Dish TV CMD Jawahar Goel said, “We would be watching the developments on the litigation front for now while simultaneously acting towards implementation of the order.”
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently extended the deadline for enforcing the New Tariff Order (NTO) 2.0 by announcing an execution plan for migrating subscribers to the new regime. TRAI directed distribution platforms to ensure that subscribers avail pay-tv services as per NTO 2.0 norms with effect from 1st April 2022, moving the earlier December 1, 2021 deadline. While distribution platforms like DTH and cable will have to seek subscriber choice till March 31, 2022, broadcasters will have to submit the required information to TRAI by December 31, 2021.
Several broadcasters had earlier challenged the NTO 2.0 in various High Courts. However, in an order passed on June 30, 2021, the Bombay High Court had upheld the validity of NTO 2.0, except the second proviso to the twin conditions which stated that the a-la-carte rates of each pay channel (MRP) forming part of a bouquet shall in no case exceed three times the average rate of a pay channel of the bouquet of which such pay channel is a part.
Broadcasters had then approached the Supreme Court, challenging the Bombay High Court order. The Supreme Court is yet to announce its decision.
