DTH is proving to a good option for majority of people as it gives them freedom to pay for the packages they need. In totality there are six private DTH operators which are said to have a customer database of 64.8 million as per the customers database which accounts for the registered users till the first quarter of 2014.
According to a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report it is learnt that the number of active users stands at a mere 37.19 million which is almost half the number of the total subscribers. This figure doesn’t include the number of people subscribed to the Doordarshan DTH service.
Broadcasting Ministry has permitted a total of 793 channels at the end of March 2014 amongst which 187 satellite are pay channels or encrypted channels. The maximum number of MSOs was 387 in specific DAS areas. The maximum number of channels still carried in the native analogue form is 100.
There are totally 242 private FM Radio stations spread across the country along with the All India Network in the first Quarter of 2014. The name and the status of the operationalized channels can be found in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting official website. The table below depicts the bird eye view of the DTH and FM industry in terms of subscriber base.
