Positive performance for Indian DTH market

The Indian pay TV market added 290,000 DTH subscribers in Q2 2021.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the DTH sector has displayed “phenomenal growth”, in recent times. As of June 30, 2021, there is a subscriber base of around 69.86 million in the country. This does not factor in the subscribers of DTH Free Dish, free DTH service from Doordashan.

The market is led by Tata Sky, which has 33.37% of the market. In second is Bharti Telemedia with 25.76%, Dish TV India at 23.45% and Sun Direct at 17.41%.

The report goes on to note that the country has achieved 100% digitization of Cable TV networks and describes this as a “stupendous achievement”. It claims that India is the only large country where 100% digital cable has been achieved through mandatory regulations.

As on 30th June 2021, there are 1731 MSOs registered with MIB. There are 12 MSOs & 1 HITS operator who have a subscriber base greater than one million.