Private DTH ops added 1.84 mn active pay subs in Q1

The five private direct to home (DTH) platforms added 1.84 million net active pay subscribers during the April-June quarter of 2018, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) Performance Indicator Report for the quarter.

It is pertinent to note that Dish TV India had declared net additions of 301,000 subscribers in Q1 FY19. Airtel Digital TV had added a whopping 479,000 net subscribers during the quarter.

Between them, Dish TV and Airtel Digital TV added 0.78 million net active pay subscribers while the remaining 1.06 million was added by the other three DTH players namely Tata Sky, Sun Direct and Reliance Digital TV (rechristened Independent TV).

Of the three, the last one would have hardly added any new customers since it was going through a major crisis involving disputes with Antrix and pay TV broadcasters.

The total net active pay DTH subscriber base has jumped 2.72% to 69.37 million from 67.53 million in the trailing quarter.

In the January-March quarter, the total pay DTH net active subscriber base had dropped to 67.53 million from 67.56 million in the October-December quarter.

In terms of market share, Dish TV has seen a 1% decline in share with its total share falling to 42% from 43% a quarter ago. Sun Direct’s share has gone up by 1% to 11% from 10% in the previous quarter.

The share of Tata Sky (25%), Airtel Digital TV (21%), and Reliance Digital TV (1%) remained unchanged.

A total number of 867 private satellite TV channels have been permitted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) for uplinking only/downlinking only/uplinking and downlinking both, as on 30 June.

During the quarter, there were 309 pay channels as reported by 49 broadcasters as compared to 308 pay channels reported in the previous quarter. The 309 pay channels include 212 SD pay TV channels and 97 HD Pay TV channels.

As per the report submitted by the broadcasters, two new pay channels, Cartoon Network HD+, and MTV HD+ were commenced and one pay channel namely Toonami was reported to be discontinued.

Apart from the radio stations operated by All India Radio, the public broadcaster, as on 30th June, 2018, there are 328 operational private FM Radio stations and 86 existing cities operated by 34 FM Radio broadcasters as compared to 324 private FM Radio Stations 86 cities operated by 34 FM Radio broadcasters in the previous quarter.

During the quarter, four new private FM Radio Stations have become operational. There are 328 operational private FM Radio stations in 86 existing cities operated by 34 private FM Radio broadcasters as compared to 324 private FM Radio Stations in 86 cities operated by 34 private FM Radio broadcasters in the previous quarter.

The reported advertisement revenue of 324 private FM Radio stations has fallen to Rs 509.33 crore as against Rs 583.41 crore for the previous quarter. One FM Radio Broadcaster, Gwalior Firm, operating in the city of Guwahati, has not submitted the advertisement revenue.