Dish TV India adds 142,000 subscribers in 4Q 2018

142 thousand net subscriber additions during the quarter. Closing net subscriber base of 23.6 million

NOIDA, India — Dish TV India Limited (BSE: 532839, NSE: DISHTV, LSE: DTVL) today reported third quarter fiscal 2019 consolidated subscription revenues of Rs. 14,126 million and operating revenues of Rs. 15,174 million. EBITDA for the quarter stood at Rs. 5,176 million, up 4.0% YoY. EBITDA margins were almost at an historical high, at 34.1%, up 330 bps YoY.

Phase 4 markets, increasing TV households, urbanization, growing multi-TV households, rural electrification and an improving consumer sentiment remain the primary drivers of DTH subscriber additions. Dish TV added 142 thousand net new subscribers during the quarter.

Integration Progress

A little over 10 months down the line from the merger, most of the merger related integration at Dish TV India is nearing completion.

Information Technology integration moved to the next level during the quarter with the Company launching a common CRM (customer relationship management) service for both Dish TV and D2h brands.

Integrating the User Interface (UI) of both brands was a challenge that the Company decided to meet head on. ‘Project Phoenix’ was launched immediately after merger and it was in December finally that the teams could make a break-through by seamlessly integrating the UI of both brands but by letting the CRMs of both brands work in their individual capacity. This was essential as building an altogether new CRM was an expensive and time consuming task. The integrated yet differentiated UI is expected to help achieve greater efficiencies in the areas of field service and customer satisfaction going forward.

Integration of headend infrastructure was planned to enhance the customer TV viewing experience and serve satellite operations for both its brands. During the quarter, Dish TV India upgraded and expanded its entire DTH platform to the AVP 4000 video processing platform. The award-winning compression technology will now enable the Company to adapt to both traditional broadcast and multiscreen service delivery from a single platform. The upgrade will also enable the Company to provide the highest video quality with significantly enhanced bandwidth cost efficiencies.

New Initiatives

The Dish SMRT Stick was launched during the quarter at an introductory price of Rs 599 only. The device enables low–cost and modular access to internet based services on Dish HD boxes. With the SMRT Stick, Dish TV’s existing 3.5 million NXT HD boxes can become connected boxes overnight.

During the quarter, Watcho, the much-awaited in-house OTT app of the Company was also launched in Beta mode.

Dish TV’s Connected Box would empower the new age consumer to watch both, streaming content as well as linear television using DTH technology at cost effective prices thus offering them excellent value for money.