Advanced Television

Dish India, Videocon to complete merger by October

April 18, 2017

By Chris Forrester

The proposed merger between India’s Dish TV and rival Videocon d2h is scheduled to complete by October, said a statement from Dish TV CEO Arun Kapoor. “We have to receive approvals from regulatory bodies like the Competition Commission of India, National Company Law Tribunal and stock exchanges. The merger is expected to be completed by October this year after getting clearances.”

The merger will combine Dish TV’s 15.5 million subscribers with Videocon’s 12.2 million, giving a combined subs base of 27.2 million and making the combined unit India’s largest DTH operator by far.  The new entity is expected to be called Dish TV Videocon Ltd.

“We are expecting that 70 per cent of the new connections for the next two years would come from those living in small towns and rural markets,” Kapoor added, saying that “it would be primarily because of implementation of Digital Addressable System (DAS) in Phase III and IV“.

However, the largest benefit by far expected to flow from the merger is an increase in ARPU from today’s typical 150-160 Rupees per month (about $2.40) to nearer 450-500 Rupees ($7) over the next 5 years.  This would be primarily driven by growth in number of HD channels, Value Added Services on DTH platform and implementation of DAS,” Kapoor told the Press Trust of India.

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