Cable TV
DD to formally launch DTH on 16 December
NEW DELHI: Doordarshan’s direct-to-home (DTH) service will formally be launched by prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh on 16 December at 6.30 pm in New Delhi.
DD Direct Plus, as the KU-band service is known, will initially offer 30 free-to-air television channels and 12 radio channels. Subscribers will not have to pay a monthly subscription fee as they are doing now to get their cable TV service. But they will have to invest around Rs 3,000-3,500 in a dish and a set-top box to receive the service.
Aaj Tak, Star Utsav, BBC, CNN, Sun TV, ETC Punjabi, Zee Music, Headlines Today, Smile TV, and Kairali TV are some of the private TV channels that will be on offer.
Despite a delay in the formal launch, DD Direct Plus has already sold over 200,000 set-top boxes. The target is to push the free service to a million subscribers by the end of 2005.
Dish TV, the other DTH service provider which is 20 per cent owned by Zee Telefilms, charges a monthly fee and claims to have a base of 160,000 subscribers. It offers, among others, the Zee-Turner bouquet and the ESPN and Star Sports channels. But Sony-Discovery and Star group of channels are not available on the Dish TV platform.
MUMBAI: When margins wobble, liquidity talks and in Q3 FY25-26, cash did most of the talking. Den Networks Limited closed the December quarter with consolidated revenue of Rs.251 crore, marginally higher than the previous quarter but down 4 per cent year-on-year, even as profitability stayed resilient on the back of strong cash reserves and disciplined cost control.
Subscription income softened to Rs.98 crore, slipping 3 per cent sequentially and 14 per cent from last year, while placement and marketing income offered some cheer, rising 15 per cent quarter-on-quarter to Rs.148 crore. Total costs climbed faster than revenue, up 7 per cent QoQ to Rs.238 crore, driven largely by higher content costs and operating expenses. As a result, EBITDA dropped sharply to Rs.13 crore from Rs.19 crore in Q2 and Rs.28 crore a year ago, pulling margins down to 5 per cent.
Yet, the bottom line refused to blink. Profit after tax stood at Rs.40 crore, up 15 per cent sequentially and only marginally lower than last year’s Rs.42 crore. A healthy Rs.57 crore in other income helped cushion operating pressure, keeping profit before tax at Rs.48 crore, broadly stable quarter-on-quarter despite the tougher cost environment.
The real headline-grabber, however, sits on the balance sheet. The company remains debt-free, with cash and cash equivalents swelling to Rs.3,279 crore as of December 31, 2025. Net worth rose to Rs.3,748 crore, while online collections accounted for 97 per cent of total receipts, underscoring strong cash discipline across operations, including subsidiaries.
In short, while Q3 showed signs of operating strain, the financial backbone remains solid. With zero gross debt, steady profits and a formidable cash war chest, the company enters the next quarter with flexibility firmly on its side proving that in uncertain markets, balance sheet strength can be the best growth strategy.
