DTH operator Dish TV has revealed that the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry has finally approved its merger with Videocon d2h. From now it will be called Dish TV Videocon Limited and they both combined will serve around 29 million subscribers.
“This paves the way for the creation of the largest listed media company in India, taking into consideration the last reported revenue and EBITDA numbers of the two DTH players on a pro-forma basis,” an official from Dish TV said.
There are 6 private DTH firms in the country right now namely— Dish TV India Ltd, Reliance Digital Ltd, Sun Direct TV Pvt. Ltd, Videocon d2h Ltd, Tata Sky Ltd, and Bharti Telemedia Ltd. In addition to these, state broadcaster Doordarshan also owns a DTH platform called DD Free Dish.
Among all these, Dish TV holds the maximum no. of users with a total share of 24% followed by Tata Sky with a 23% market share. Videocon d2h has a 21% market share, according to a report released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in June 2017. This clearly states that after merging Dish TV Videocon Limited will dominate the d2h market.
Both companies had announced a merger in November 2016 and had started the unification process in the DTH market. A few days ago, Bharti Airtel sold its 20% stake to an equity firm Warburg Pincus for $350 million as the company was going in debt.
