Dish TV India reports Q1 subs revenues of INR8BN
Details
Rebecca Hawkes
| 31 July 2019

Dish TV India has reported a net subscriber base of 23.9 million, with consolidated subscription revenues of INR 8.261 billion (US$119.886 million) in the first quarter of fiscal 2020.

The direct-to-home (DTH) TV operator said that the subscription revenues were strengthened due to an engrossing cricket season, in line with expectations.

“Positive contribution from the Cricket World Cup and elections no doubt strengthened the first quarter performance but due credit should also be given to the team for dexterously working through the challenges thrown by the new tariff regime,” said Dish TV India CMD Jawahar Goel.

“I am glad to say that the technological challenges experienced during the migration are now a thing of the past. Majority of our subscribers are well settled in their channel combinations and Dish TV India should continue to raise the bar both in terms of service delivery and financial performance in the coming quarters.”

An EBITDA margin of 57.9% with achieved under India’s new tariff regime. The EBITDA margin stood at 29.7% in the trailing quarter.

The pay-TV company’s expenditure for the quarter stood at INR3.902 billion. In the trailing quarter, the expenditure was INR9.838 billion.

This compares to consolidated subscription revenues of 13.083 billion in the fourth quarter of financial year 2019, and operating revenues of INR 13.987 billion. EBITDA for that quarter stood at INR 4.150 billion.

Because programming cost have been ring fenced from revenues to better reflect the new tariff regime, subscription and operating revenues for the quarter are not comparable with the corresponding period last year.

Net additions for the quarter stood at 209,000, with more than half of those for high definition (HD) subscriptions.

Dish TV India Group CEO Anil Dua said: “The Tariff Order has led to the beginning of a new era with programming cost becoming a pass-through expense. Apart from the accounting significance, the move indicates a massive shift from the traditional way of content negotiation. With the new regime emphasising the role of á la carte, content would be subject to subscriber’s filtration. As a distributor, we would only be procuring content that sells while adding value through our packaging, quality of our service and new products.”

DTH’s primary drivers of increasing TV and multi-TV households, and increasing urbanisation should continue to fuel sustainable market growth in India. This, combined with potential tie-ups and innovations in the DTH space, should reinforce progression going forward, Dish TV India said.

“Having jump-started the year, we find ourselves all set to leverage the possibility of multiple growth opportunities ahead. In the near term, operating efficiencies resulting from the further realisation of synergies due to the combination of Dish TV and d2h should continue to positively contribute to the business and financial performance of the company,” said Dua.