Tata Sky beats Dish TV to become new leader in DTH market
By During the second quarter of 2019, Tata Sky added 30 lakh new customers while Dish TV was able to add only two lakh customers. Airtel Digital TV is third in the market with a market share of 23 percent.
Tata Sky has become the biggest DTH service provider in India. The operator added 30 lakh new subscribers between April and June, which allowed it to beat Dish TV. At the end of June 2019, Tata Sky commanded a market share of 32 percent in the DTH market in India. Sun Direct saw the second major growth by adding 9 lakh customers during the same period. Airtel Digital TV, on the other hand, added 4 lakh new customers during the period ending June 2019.
At the end of June 2019, Dish d2h added only two lakh new customers, which affected its leadership in the market. The new industry data from TRAI also showed that DTH industry is growing rapidly in the country. The industry added 3.17 million or 31.7 lakh customers during the period between April to June this year. At the end of August, the telecom regulatory notes that the country had a total of 5.4 crore active DTH users.
The active customers is calculated basis average of those paying on day 7, 14, 21 and 28 of a month. At the end of April – June quarter, Tata Sky has become the new leader with a market share of 32 percent. Dish TV is the second major player with a market share of 31 percent. Airtel Digital TV is third in the market with a market share of 23 percent. Sun Direct is fourth and it has a market share of 14 percent. It also controls nearly 70 percent of the market in South India.
While Dish TV may have lost its leadership to Tata Sky, it can still make a comeback. There are already plans of a merger between Dish TV and Airtel Digital TV being worked out. The proposed merger will create a new leader with a combined market share of nearly 54 percent. The consolidation is coming to DTH market, which is facing threat from OTT players, who don’t need to play by the rules of the new tariff regime. However, DTH operators are holding steady for now by offering free additional channels and are considering revision of NCF to attract new customers.
