BENGALURU: Indian direct to home (DTH) behemoth Dish TV India Ltd (Dish TV) reported profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 152.69 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2018 (Q3 2019, quarter under review) as compared to loss of Rs 168.29 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter and a profit of Rs 19.73 crore in the immediate trailing quarter Q2 2109. These PAT numbers were boosted by certain income tax adjustments of prior years. Dish TV and Videocon d2h were merged on March 22 2018 and hence Q1 2019 was the first full reporting quarter for the merged entity.

Dish TV’s operating profit or EBITDA in Q3 2019 was Rs 517.59 crore, 4.3 percent lower than Rs 540.62 crore in Q2 2019. The company reported a 4.8 percent q-o-q decline in operating revenue for the quarter under review at Rs 1,517.45 crore as compared to Rs 1,594.3 crore in Q2 2019.

Dish TV’s subscriber additions picked up speed during the first quarter of fiscal 2019. The net number of 3,01,000 additions took Dish TV’s subscriber base to 2.33 crore in Q1 2019. The company picked up another net 2,00,000 subscribers in Q2 2019 to ramp up its subs base to 2.35 crore. For Q3 2019, the company reported net subscriber additions of 1,42,000 and the company closed the quarter under review with a subscriber base of 2.36 crore.

Revenue breakup

Subscription revenue declined 2.1 percent q-o-q in Q3 2018 to Rs 141.26 crore as compared to Rs 1,453.6 crore in Q3 2018. Advertisement revenue for the quarter under review increased 26.2 percent y-o-y to Rs 30 crore from Rs 23.8 crore. Bandwidth charges (revenue) reduced 24.4 percent y-o-y to Rs 32.4 crore in Q3 2019 from Rs 42.8 crore. Other income declined 59.4 percent y-o-y in Q3 2019 to Rs 4.25 crore from Rs 10.47 crore.

Company speak

Dish TV CMD Jawahar Goel said, “I am glad that all opposition to the tariff order has now finally been put to rest. We continue to strongly believe that the Regulation should minimise discriminatory pricing by ensuring a level playing field between cable and DTH platforms and should be beneficial for the entire industry thus leading to higher earnings going forward.”

Goel, said further, “The Interim Budget 2019 gave an approximate Rs 230 billion spending stimulus to the consumption class comprising of small business owners, salaried employees and the middle class by way of tax exemptions. In addition, increased disposable income in the hands of farmers by way of PM Kissan Samman Nidhi scheme introduced in the budget should be a great boon for consumer sector companies like Dish TV. Further, the 150 thousand homes built under the PM Affordable Housing Scheme and every new house proposed to be built thereunder should be a potential pay-TV customer in the near future.”

Talking about the current technological buzz, Dish TV group CEO Anil Dua said, “The Interconnection Regulations and Tariff Order, as notified by TRAI, will lay down new norms for the television industry ushering in an era of growth, transparency and non-discrimination."

Let us look at the other numbers reported by Dish TV

The merged Dish TV’s consolidated total expenditure reduced 8 percent y-o-y in Q3 2019 to Rs 1,483.13 crore from Rs 1,612.36 crore. Operating Expense in Q3 2019 reduced 4.2 percent y-o-y to Rs 812.05 crore from Rs 847.74 crore. Employee benefit expense during the quarter under review reduced 10.3 percent y-o-y to Rs 60.37 crore from Rs 67.3 crore in Q3 2018. Other expenses in Q3 2019 reduced 37.2 percent y-o-y to Rs 124.99 crore from Rs 198.92 crore .