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DTH ops seek scale amid losses
NEW DELHI: The DTH industry has invested Rs 250 billion to build scale into their business model, but it is badly hurting their pockets. Dragged down by low ARPUs (average revenue per user), high customer acquisition costs and exorbitant taxation, DTH companies are bleeding profusely. “The DTH sector has piled up a subscriber base of 17.5 million over the first five years. The total investment stands at Rs 250 billion and all of us are bleeding,” said Tata Sky managing director and chief executive officer Vikram Kaushik. |
Taking a dig at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Kaushik urged the need for a broadcast regulator. “Trai has an overhang of the telecom sector as that was the first thing they regulated. We desperately need a broadcast regulator who can understand our requirements,” he said, while speaking at the India Digital Networks Summit 2009 here today. The under-reporting by the cable TV operators is keeping ARPUs artifically low and hurting everybody. “This is the crux of the problem and Trai has not understood this,” said Kaushik, who heads a DTH service that has the “best” and the “healthiest” ARPU among all the operators in the country. The fierce competition over pricing is also being led by Sun Direct, the DTH company promoted by Kalanithi Maran. “Disruptive pricing is hurting not just the DTH companies but also negatively impacting the entire process of digitisation in India. This is unsustainable,” said Kaushik. Sun Direct, which has the fastest run in subscriber growth, has an ARPU of under Rs 100 as against Tata Sky‘s Rs 200. “We have to compete with the cable TV operators and build a business case around it. We have already reached 4.3 million subscribers,” said Sun Direct COO Tony D‘Silva. Emphasizing the need for equity in pricing, taxation and a level Speaking about low ARPUs, high content cost and taxes, Airtel Digital TV CEO Ajai Puri said, “DTH is a scale business in India and has a great potential to grow. But the business model is still a big question mark.” NDS Asia-Pacific SVP Sue Taylor said the government should encourage the sector and do away with such a high level of taxation. |
Applications
Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
