DTH
DTH industry sees sharp decline: 1.32 million pay subscribers lost in July-September 2023
Mumbai: The Direct-to-Home (DTH) television industry has long been a cornerstone of the entertainment landscape, offering viewers access to a wide array of channels and programming from the comfort of their homes. However, recent data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) reveals a significant decline in DTH subscribers during the period of July to September 2023. According to the report, DTH services lost approximately 1.32 million pay subscribers during this timeframe, raising questions about the evolving dynamics of the pay-TV market.
The decline in DTH subscribers is a reflection of several factors reshaping the television industry. One of the primary drivers behind this trend is the increasing popularity of alternative viewing platforms, such as Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming services and video-on-demand (VOD) platforms. With the proliferation of high-speed internet connectivity and the availability of affordable smartphones and smart TVs, consumers now have more choices than ever before when it comes to accessing content.
The pay DTH subscriber base decreased by 2.02 per cent from 65.50 million in the quarter ended June 2023 to 64.18 million in QE September 2023. According to TRAI’s Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report, pay DTH attained a total active subscriber base of around 64.18 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2023. This is in addition to the subscribers of the DD Free Dish (free DTH services of Doordarshan).
Since the introduction of the DTH Sector in the year 2003, Indian DTH (direct-to-home) services have displayed phenomenal growth, according to TRAI. During the QE 30th September 2023, there were four pay DTH service providers in the country including Tata Play with 32.43 per cent share followed by Bharti Telemedia with 27.01 per cent and Dish TV India with 21.54 per cent share. Sun Direct TV had a 19.02 per cent share in QE in September 2023.
As per TRAI report and as of September 30 2023, there are 995 MSOs registered with MIB. As per the data reported by MSOs and HITS operators, as of September 2023, there are 11 MSOs & 1 HITS operator who have a subscriber base greater than one million. With GTPL Hathway leading the charts with over nine million subscribers.
As per broadcasters’ reporting in pursuance of the Tariff Order dated 3rd March 2017 as amended, out of 904 permitted satellite TV channels which are available for downlinking in India, there are 361 satellite pay TV channels as of 30th September 2023.
TRAI said, out of 361 pay channels, 257 are SD satellite pay TV channels and 104 are HD satellite pay TV channels.
DTH
Prasar Bharati’s WAVES earns Rs 2.9 crore in first year
Platform scales content, users but monetisation gaps limit revenue growth.
MUMBAI: Big waves, small ripples at least for now. When Prasar Bharati launched its OTT platform WAVES at the 55th International Film Festival of India in November 2024, it pitched a bold vision: a homegrown rival to global and domestic streaming giants, blending video, audio, gaming and commerce into a single digital ecosystem. Five months into FY2024–25, however, the platform’s revenue stands at just Rs 2.90 crore, a figure that underscores the gap between ambition and monetisation.
On paper, WAVES looks anything but modest. The platform has ingested 13,608 titles, totalling 9,495 hours of content, with over 13,000 titles already live. It has streamed more than 575 live events from the Mahakumbh Amrit Snan and the 76th Republic Day parade to the Hockey India League, Kabaddi World Cup and Mann Ki Baat while offering 74 live TV channels and 12 radio channels. With over 10 lakh registered users and more than 200 content partners onboarded, the scale resembles that of a fully operational streaming service rather than a pilot project.
The architecture supporting this scale is equally robust. Built under Prasar Bharati’s Central Archives vertical, WAVES runs on a cloud-based infrastructure with DRM, encryption and an integrated analytics dashboard. It includes dedicated units for content ingestion, quality control, publishing, graphics, marketing and billing, and is distributed across platforms such as OTTplay, Tata Play and BSNL. The offering extends beyond video to include audio-on-demand, e-games and even e-commerce via ONDC integration.
Yet, the numbers reveal a core disconnect. Despite its scale, WAVES generated just Rs 2.90 crore in a market where India’s OTT industry crossed Rs 23,000 crore in 2024. A key bottleneck lies in monetisation infrastructure: subscriptions cannot currently be purchased within the app and must be completed via an external website. In a mobile-first country where over 95 per cent of OTT consumption happens on smartphones, this extra step creates friction that most users are unlikely to overcome.
Ironically, content is not the problem, it is the platform’s biggest strength. Prasar Bharati holds one of the world’s richest broadcast archives, including 45,154 hours of digitised Akashvani programming and 35,723 hours from Doordarshan. For WAVES alone, over 3,800 hours of archival content have been made OTT-ready, including classics such as Ramayan and Shaktimaan, alongside rare cultural recordings and historical broadcasts.
There are early signs that this library holds commercial potential. Revenue from archival content licensing rose sharply to Rs 3.38 crore in FY24, up from Rs 67 lakh the previous year. Meanwhile, free digital platforms continue to drive massive reach, the PB Archives Youtube channel clocked 119.78 million views and added 4,02,000 subscribers in FY2024–25, crossing 1.7 million in total, while DD News has over 5.84 million subscribers.
That, however, presents a strategic dilemma. While free distribution builds scale, it also conditions audiences to expect content at zero cost making it harder to transition to paid models. WAVES, designed as a hybrid AVOD-SVOD platform with advertising and subscription layers, is yet to fully crack this balance.
The broader challenge is not technological but strategic. In an ecosystem dominated by platforms offering seamless payments, aggressive pricing and high-budget originals, WAVES is still bridging the gap between being a content repository and a commercially viable product.
For now, the platform reflects both promise and paradox. It has the scale, the content and the infrastructure but until monetisation catches up, WAVES remains less a revenue engine and more a digital showcase of what India’s public broadcaster could become.
