DTH companies seek uniform licence fee policy

Mumbai: Direct-to-home (DTH) companies Tata Sky and Dish TV have again raised concerns over what they termed discriminatory policies, and demanded a uniform licence fee and a level playing field for the entire distribution sector, collectively called distribution platform operators (DPOs).

The DTH sector has been asking for a rationalisation of licence fee, which is currently 10% of their gross revenues. Cable TV and headend-in-the-sky operators don’t have to pay any licence fee.

“When all DPOs have to pay uniform GST, why can’t there be a unified licence fee structure too,” Dish TV chairman Jawahar Goel asked.