Dish TV India today announced the results of Q2 FY20 in which it confirmed an increased subscriber base. During the quarter that ended on September 30, 2019, Dish TV has managed to add 42,000 new subscribers, despite the negative response to the new Trai tariff regime and increased competition. For the unaware, Dish TV lost its top spot to Tata Sky last quarter in terms of subscriber base and the overall subscriber base increase will boost the company to achieve more. At the end of the September quarter, Dish TV's whole subscriber base reached 23.94 million. In the first half of FY20, Dish TV has managed to add 2,51,000 new subscribers and it's hoping for a better second half of the financial year.
Dish TV Reports an Increased Subscriber Base: What it Means?
For many years, Dish TV India was the leading DTH operator in India and the acquisition of Videocon D2h increased the company's lead at the top of the table. But Tata Sky managed to beat Dish TV at its own game with affordable offerings and excellent customer service. In the last quarter, Dish TV may have added just 42,000 new users, however, it's not a bad number at all considering the current scenario of Indian broadcasting industry.
As for the financial numbers, Dish TV reported consolidated unaudited subscription revenue of Rs 7,920 million and operating revenues of Rs 8,932 million. The former leading DTH operator also said that the EBITDA for the quarter stood at Rs 5,205 million.
"With programming cost becoming a pass-through item in the New Tariff Regime, subscription and operating revenues for the quarter are not comparable with the corresponding period last year," said Dish TV in the press statement.
Why is Dish TV Not Able to Acquire More New Subscribers?
Dish TV has reported a seasonally weak second quarter at a time when there are no external challenges. Almost all the DTH operators are struggling right now because of the new tariff regime by Trai. According to Dish TV, the slow down in subscriber addition is due to a not so robust macro-economic environment, price undercutting by peers, along with heavy rains and flooding in many parts of the country made subscriber acquisitions and retention a challenging task.
As for the subscription revenues, Dish TV reported an overall number of Rs 7,920 million during the quarter. The company added the prolonged monsoon resulted in recharge delays impacting the overall subscription revenues for the quarter. Furthermore, in the press statement, Dish TV also stated that the absence of major sporting events like the Cricket World Cup also impacted the subscription revenues during the second quarter when compared to the previous quarter.
Dish TV Hoping for a Better Second Half of FY20
In other news, Dish TV India recently launched the Dish SMRT Hub Android TV-based Set-Top Box that takes on the Airtel Xstream Box from Airtel Digital TV. Dish TV clearly has an advantage over Tata Sky in this regard as the latter does not have any such Set-Top Box. However, Tata Sky itself has Tata Sky Binge platform which has pretty much similar functionality as Dish SMRT Hub. Dish TV also slashed prices of its HD and SD Set-Top Boxes during the festive season and it also came up with a new offer to lure subscribers.
