 "Manoj Dobhal, CEO, Dish TV")
The direct-to-home (DTH) industry has been facing challenges in retaining its subscriber base, which has been putting pressure on the revenue of operators due to customers' shift towards digital platforms. As a result, Dish TV is focusing on expanding its revenue stream, says its chief executive officer (CEO) Manoj Dobhal to Roshni Shekhar in a telephonic interview. Edited excerpts:
What is your plan to turn profitable?
There are reasons we are not profitable yet. One is customer erosion that also has a cascading impact on future revenues. Second, we are not much into new customer acquisition because there are hardly any new customers available in the market now. People (customers) are only moving from one brand to another. We are, right now, very particular about and focused on the quality of customer acquisition. We’ll also go more into the B2C (business-to-consumer) segment.
Going forward, we are developing a device-bundling ecosystem for content consumption. Dish TV as a connection will go agnostic about technology, platform, and devices. We don't just want to provide a pipeline of content, we also want to provide the device of consumption. Today, we charge customers only for the monthly recharge for DTH service. Going forward, it can be a device-bundle ecosystem as well. It will come by the first quarter of the next financial year.
Are there any cost-cutting or operational efficiency measures being taken right now to turn profitable?
There is very little room available now for optimising cost. But yes, cost optimisation is always a part of the exercise. We are trying, right from manpower to operational expenses of various nature, whether it is transponder fee, broadcasting expenses, general and admin, there is a keen eye.
We are also working to improve profitability by reducing the subsidy on hardware capex. At the same time, Watcho (OTT aggregator platform with original content as well) in the next three-to-four months will be an independent profitable business unit for us. We will also increase our investment for Watcho in the coming quarters. Hence, we are not an only DTH company today. We are now addressing the 360-degree of content consumption.
The DTH industry has faced a lot of problems in the last few years, with a declining subscriber base. Do you think that this decline will continue in the next financial year (FY26)?
DTH (industry), for the last two-to-three years, has seen a lot of erosion of business because there are newer technologies (OTT platforms) coming in. As it happens with any new technology coming in, there are people who want to adopt it, have various experiences and then decide whether they want to continue there (OTT platform) or they want to go back to the traditional medium. Then there were also a lot of customers who wanted simplicity and convenience of not paying every month, thus, they switched over to free channels.
Now, (in the DTH industry) although we have lost a lot of customers in the last two years, going forward, the decline should rest. This may also be helped by broadcasters. We are now seeing broadcasters understand the value of TV because of the size it brings in and also because it is well established without compromising too much on fresh investments in this segment. They understand the high value of investment as returns on this platform compared to (those from) any emerging technology.
How do you view the merger announcement between Bharti Airtel and Tata group's TV segments? How will this change the competitive landscape for Dish TV?
In the DTH industry, players have been fighting each other more than trying to develop anything new. Customers are only moving from one platform to another. The consolidation will definitely help. There is a lot of unnecessary expenditure towards e-waste, or pumping those fresh boxes into the market, that should stop with this consolidation happening. Also, with Tata and Airtel (coming together), even if they have not confirmed, tomorrow they will definitely optimise their capex or their focus on maintaining two different satellites or two different broadcasting stations. A lot of synergies will happen and maybe there could be a lot of infrastructure sharing as well.
Earlier, Dish TV had merged with Videocon d2h to strengthen its position in the market. Is Dish TV now considering a similar strategy, like a merger or a partnership?
There is no M&A (merger and acquisition) opportunity left now. If you see, there are only 2.5 or 3 DTH operators in the country today. There is nothing to acquire from and nothing to merge with, first of all. And, I don't know how much time it will take even after all the approvals are in place for two different entities (referring to Tata-Airtel possible merger) to get operational on the ground. It remains to be seen how they can implement it on the ground.
