Tata Play losses widen to Rs 529 crore in FY25 amid stalled growth plans

New Delhi: Tata Play, formerly known as Tata Sky, reported a widening of its consolidated loss to Rs 529.43 crore for the financial year ending March 2025, deepening from a net loss of Rs 353.88 crore in FY24. The DTH operator continues to face stiff competition from DishTV, Airtel Digital TV, and DD Free Dish.

The company’s revenue from operations slipped 5.15% year-on-year to Rs 4,082.5 crore in FY25. Total income, including other sources, fell 5.03% to Rs 4,109.3 crore, according to financial data accessed by business intelligence platform Tofler. While the reasons for the growing losses were not immediately clear, Tata Play’s total expenses fell 3% to Rs 4,619.22 crore.

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On the marketing front, Tata Play reduced its advertising and promotional spend by 29.2% to Rs 124.28 crore in FY25, compared to Rs 175.54 crore in the previous fiscal.

The company made progress on its balance sheet, lowering its net debt to Rs 3,445.60 crore in FY25 from Rs 4,010.21 crore a year earlier.

Shareholding data as of March 31, 2025, shows Tata Sons as the largest stakeholder with a 60% holding, following its acquisition last year of a 10% stake from Baytree Investments (Mauritius) Pte Ltd, an affiliate of Temasek Holdings, in a $100 million deal. The next largest shareholders are Network Digital Distribution Services FZ – LLC (NDDS) and TS Investments Ltd, each holding 20%. Currently, Tata Sons and TS Investments are listed as the company’s promoters.

Tata Play operates in a highly competitive market, facing off against DishTV, Airtel Digital TV, and the state-owned DD Free Dish. The company had been in discussions with Bharti Airtel for a possible merger of their loss-making DTH businesses, but those talks were officially called off on May 3 after both sides failed to reach a satisfactory agreement.

Tata Play’s attempt to go public was also put on hold. The company had received SEBI’s nod for an initial public offering, but the process was delayed following “certain observations” from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB), which called for a change in the equity structure in a letter dated October 7, 2022.