Indian DTH inflection point reached?
June 17, 2015
By Chris Forrester
A report from Indian Television.com’s Tarachand Wanvari suggests that 2015 is likely to see DTH satellite broadcasting over India reach its financial inflection point.
An analysis of the latest financial results from India’s three largest DTH broadcasters, showed considerable optimism from each of the major players (Airtel Digital TV, Dish TV and Videocon d2h).
Each reported better than expected results and supplied forecasts that were buoyant, not least in the shift by consumers to higher tier HDTV broadcasts (and in some cases UHD), and the resultant growth in ARPU.
Typical of the optimistic outlook was this statement from Videocon d2h’s CEO, speaking a few days ago at his company’s results were released: “The pay-TV segment in India is positioned for extraordinary growth over the next few years with millions of new TV homes being created on account of the strong economic outlook in India as well as the Government of India’s initiative to roll out its digitalisation mandate across the country. We believe that 9 to 10 crore homes will be making the switch to digital platforms, which will be available to the DTH and digital cable operators. We are well positioned to benefit from this and we believe we will take the largest share of this opportunity, as we have in the past. With strong economic growth outlook for India, overall media sector is expected to grow in the years to come. We believe this will help grow ARPU, TV penetration and increase HD uptake leading to stronger revenue growth for pay-TV in general and Videocon d2h in particular.”