Advanced Television

Dish TV takes extra 5% of Videocon d2h

December 1, 2016

By Chris Forrester

A week ago Essel Group-backed Indian DTH broadcaster Dish TV agreed a merger plan with rival Videocon d2h. Now it has emerged that Dish will buy an additional 5 per cent of Videocon from the high-profile Dhoot family.

The extra bundle of shares takes Essel to a 41 per cent ownership (from 36 per cent) in the combined company. Dish TV, in its filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, said the Dhoot family will have the flexibility for a further three months to buy and sell stock.  The Dhoot family holdings in Videocon now fall to some 23 per cent. India media mogul Subhash Chandra and his family own 64.4 per cent of Dish TV.

The merger between Dish TV and Videocon d2h creates a broadcasting giant in India reaching one-in-six TV homes in the country. Add in Siti Cable (owned by Essel) and the ratio reaches one-in-four of the generally accepted 145 million TV homes universe.

Dish TV, when combined with Videocon d2h, will have more than 15 million subscribing homes.

Categories: Articles, M&A