DTH Firms Lose more than 3 Million Consumers in FY24

The four private direct-to-home (DTH) carriers lost 3.28 million active customers 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 in India.

The subscriber base dropped as a result of free streaming of the two events by JioCinema (IPL) and Disney+ Hotstar (ICC CWC), as well as price increases by broadcasters, which compelled DTH providers to pass on the cost of increased pricing to customers.

DTH platforms have always used major sporting events to attract and engage subscribers. However, free cricket streaming has had an influence on their capacity to recruit new subscribers through live cricket.

With four commercial and one government-owned operator, the Indian DTH market is losing customers as a result of fierce competition from over-the-top (OTT) services like Netflix and Prime Video and Prasar Bharati's DD Free Dish.

The higher and lower ends of the pay DTH user base are being weaned away by OTT platforms and DD Free Dish, respectively.

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

The active pay DTH subscriber base decreased by 2.4% QoQ, or 1.55 million, to 61.97 million for the quarter that ended in March from 63.52 million for the third quarter of FY24.

Within the next four to five years, the number of homes served by DD Free Dish is expected to rise from 45 million to 50–60 million, according to a recent prediction made by Gaurav Dwivedi, CEO of Prasar Bharati.