Dish TV India reported third quarter fiscal 2016 consolidated operating revenues of Rs.7,715 million, up 11.8% on year and subscription revenues of Rs.7,111 million, up 12.6%.
During the third quarter, the company increased the total number of HD channels to 50 — the highest in India by some distance. New HD channels include Sony Max HD and Nick HD.
EBITDA for the quarter stood at Rs. 2,654 million compared to Rs. 1,908 million in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. EBITDA margin recorded at 34.4% compared to 27.6% in the corresponding quarter. Profit after tax was Rs. 685 million compared to a loss of Rs.26 million in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.
Commenting on the results, Jawahar Goel, Managing Director, Dish TV said, “We witnessed steady growth in the third quarter and our key metrics strengthened further.”
Churn was lower at 0.7% per month.
PAT was Rs. 685 million compared to a loss of Rs.26 million in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.
Free cash flow for the quarter stood at Rs. 1,296 million. With a focus on Balance Sheet strength, Dish TV further pruned its debt by Rs. 3,000 million.
The net debt is now around Rs. 5,610 million and likely to reduce substantially going forward, the company added.
Talking about digitization and Dish TV’s positioning, Mr. Goel said, “We continued to build our pan-India reach during the quarter. However, as expected, despite analog sunset there was no real spike in consumer demand from Phase 3 markets thus making it an ordinary quarter from that perspective. Later, changing gears to align with the current industry trend, we tweaked our subscription packages to a more versatile and seemingly economical offering.”
To compete with cable operators, the company offers packs as low as Rs 99 per month.
“Mandatory digitization however is expected to pick up speed and our key focus going forward would be to gain market share both in terms of subscribers and profitability,” he added.
Dish TV transmits from two satellites, while its subscribers are able to get feeds from three satellites using their dish antennas, including a free service from Doordarshan.
