DTH companies lose over 3 million users in FY24

The four private direct-to-home (DTH) operators lost 3.28 million active subscribers in the fiscal year ending March 2024, despite the presence of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 held in India.

The subscriber base declined due to free streaming of the two events by JioCinema (IPL) and Disney+ Hotstar (ICC CWC) and price hikes by broadcasters that forced DTH operators to pass on the burden of higher prices to consumers.


DTH platforms have traditionally utilised big sporting events to acquire and activate customers. However, the free cricket streaming has impacted their ability to use live cricket to attract new subscribers.

The Indian DTH industry, comprising four private and one government-owned operator, is seeing a decline in subscribers due to stiff competition from Prasar Bharati-owned DD Free Dish and over-the-top (OTT) platforms like Netflix and Prime Video.

OTT platforms and DD Free Dish are weaning away the upper and lower end of the pay DTH customers, respectively.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) Performance Indicator Report, the active pay DTH base has dropped 5% to 61.97 million in FY24 from 65.25 million in FY23.

For the quarter ended March, the active pay DTH subscriber base dropped by 2.4% QoQ, or 1.55 million, to 61.97 million, compared to 63.52 million in Q3 FY24.

Prasar Bharati CEO Gaurav Dwivedi recently predicted a significant increase in the DD Free Dish reach from 45 million homes to 50-60 million homes within the next 4-5 years.


Tata Play, which is a 70:30 JV between Tata Sons and Walt Disney, has seen its subscriber base drop by 5.39% YoY to 20.15 million, as per TRAI data, which includes subscribers who have been inactive or temporarily suspended for not more than 90 days.

Bharti Airtel's DTH arm, Airtel Digital TV, was the only DTH operator to be in the positive territory, with its subscriber base increasing by 1% to 17.63 million.

Dish TV, which has been facing a tug of war between the management and the shareholders, has seen the sharpest decline with its subscriber base shrinking 11% to 12.67 million.

Sun Direct, promoted by Sun TV Network promoter Kalanithi Maran, experienced a 6.27% fall in subscriber base to 11.5 million.

Tata Play's DTH business experienced a net loss of Rs 247 crore in FY24, with revenue dropping 7.45% to Rs 3983 crore. Airtel Digital's FY24 revenue grew 3% to Rs 3044 crore, while EBITDA dropped 1% to Rs 1715 crore.

Dish TV saw its net loss expand 17% to Rs 1967 crore, while operating revenues decreased by 18% to Rs 1857 crore. Sun Direct has not filed its FY24 financials yet.