DTH players in South buck subscriber decline even as the base shrinks nationally

New Delhi: Even as private DTH players continue to lose subscribers and revenue at an all-India level, their market position in South India is strengthening, with the leading operator in the region actually increasing its share by holding on to subscribers, according to Crisil Ratings.

Crisil said revenue for private DTH companies will still decline this fiscal year, but the fall will moderate to 3–4% against around 5% last year. 

The improvement is being driven by a combination of IPTV expansion, bundled offerings and sharper cost discipline.

The agency’s analysis covers all private DTH companies in India, accounting for about 5.3 crore subscribers as of September 30, 2025. 

The sector has seen steady cord-cutting at the national level, with more affluent users shifting to OTT and value-seeking households moving to free-to-air platform DD Free Dish.

The overall private DTH subscriber base has dropped from 7.2 crore in FY19 to 6.19 crore in FY24. It fell a further 9% in FY25 and is expected to slip below 5.1 crore by the end of the current fiscal.

“Although cord-cutting has put pressure on DTH companies, leading to secular revenue degrowth over the past six years, operators are making inroads in new areas such as IPTV to drive bundled services (OTT, broadband, live TV),” said Ankit Hakhu, Director, Crisil Ratings.

IPTV is emerging as the core pivot for that strategy. IPTV subscribers have almost quadrupled to 21.3 lakh as of September 2025 from about 5.7 lakh in FY24, as per TRAI’s reported numbers. 

According to Crisil, this is enabling DTH operators to upsell and deliver both OTT and live TV over broadband without a dish, which Crisil believes will help slow subscriber churn.

Within the national decline, the South market stands out as an exception. Crisil said the pace of cord-cutting has been more limited in the Southern states. The leading DTH operator in the region has increased market share by keeping its subscriber base largely intact, even as numbers fell for the industry overall.

On the cable side, too, the South is relatively resilient. Among the top 12 MSOs that compete with DTH in linear TV, the two largest operators in South India grew their combined subscriber count by about 5% to 7.7 million in FY25 from 7.3 million in March 2024.

“Though the revenue of private DTH players will be impacted by the reduction in subscriber base, this will be partially offset by income from marketing on the players’ own OTT aggregator platforms offered via hybrid boxes,” said Gauri Gupta, Team Leader, Crisil Ratings.

She added that lower customer acquisition incentives, driven by cuts in set-top box subsidies and discounts for new subscribers by some players, will also support the P&L.

EBITDA margins for private DTH operators, which slipped from 48% in FY23 to 45% in FY25, are now expected to hold at 44–45% in the current fiscal, aided by milder revenue degrowth and tighter spending.

Crisil flagged several structural strengths that continue to work in favour of DTH, particularly in markets like the South, where regional content is a key driver. Stronger focus on local programming, limited offerings by DD Free Dish, which carries only three of the top 10 most viewed channels, and the cost advantage versus OTT all add to stickiness.

Monthly OTT subscriptions bundled with broadband remain more than twice as expensive as typical DTH packs, acting as a brake on cord-cutting among value-conscious consumers.

At the same time, the ratings agency cautioned that repeated tariff hikes by DTH operators, along with the rapid expansion of digital alternatives, could impact overall TV viewership and would need close monitoring.