The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has issued licence fee demand notices totalling Rs 16,000 crore to India's four private Direct-to-Home (DTH) operators, escalating financial pressures on a sector already facing declining revenues and stiff competition from OTT platforms and DD Free Dish, The Economic Times Reported, citing Industry sources.
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Operators Push Back, Cite Ongoing Legal Disputes
The demands, which include both principal licence fees and accrued interest, have been served to Dish TV, Tata Play, Bharti Telemedia (Airtel Digital TV), and Sun Direct. Industry sources indicated that the operators have expressed their inability to comply, citing ongoing legal proceedings in various High Courts, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), and the Supreme Court.
Dish TV, in its Q4 FY25 regulatory filing, disclosed receiving a ministry communication dated April 22, 2025, directing payment of Rs 6,735 crore, including interest, covering dues from the licence grant date through FY24. The company has formally disputed this demand and made provisions of Rs 4,612 crore against it as of March 2025.
Tata Play has received a consolidated demand of Rs 3,628 crore, including Rs 1,401.66 crore in interest. It has provisioned Rs 2,002 crore and recognised an additional Rs 2,280 crore as contingent liability. Sun Direct has been asked to pay Rs 1,051.84 crore excluding interest, while Bharti Airtel had made provisions of about Rs 3,426 crore towards similar dues by March 2024.
The aggregate demand surpasses the combined revenue of these operators, which stood at Rs 10,230 crore in FY24 — a 5 percent decline from the previous year.
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Industry Seeks Relief
A senior DTH executive quoted in the report added that the ministry has raised similar demands in the past, even when legal disputes remain unresolved.
"DTH operators have repeatedly urged the ministry to exclude pass-through costs, such as content expenses, from the licence fee calculations and to address the issue of double taxation. However, these concerns are yet to be addressed," the executive said, as mentioned in the report.
Dish TV CEO Manoj Dobhal acknowledged the sector's challenges, citing subscriber losses driven by competition from OTT platforms and DD Free Dish, as well as taxation and regulatory hurdles. "The DTH industry is navigating a difficult phase, with factors such as subscriber churn driven by competition from OTT platforms and DD Free Dish, along with taxation and regulatory issues," Dobhal said. "Given these challenges, we would have hoped for a more supportive approach from the authorities."
According to the report, the ministry stated that the figures remain provisional and are subject to reconciliation based on Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audits and pending judicial outcomes.
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Licence Fee Reforms
The DTH sector lost 8 million subscribers between FY21 and FY24, with the active pay subscriber base standing at 58.22 million as of December 2024.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has twice recommended phasing out the DTH licence fee by FY27 and has issued 17 reform recommendations since 2020. In 2020, the ministry amended DTH guidelines, reducing the licence fee from 10 percent of gross revenue to 8 percent of adjusted gross revenue (AGR).
Bharti Telemedia, Tata Play, and Sun Direct declined to comment on the latest demand notices, according to the report.
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