Govt earns Rs 1.78 bn as licence fee from DTH in FY 11

NEW DELHI: The Government has earned Rs 1.78 billion in 2010-11 as licence fee from the six private direct-to-home (DTH) platforms as compared to Rs 1.26 billion in 2009-10.

This is as compared to revenue of Rs 893 million in 2008-09, when Bharti Telemedia (Airtel Digital TV) and Bharat Business Channel (Videocon d2h) had not entered the field, Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources said.

The other four players are Dish TV India, Tata Sky, Sun Direct, and Reliance Digital TV.

In addition to the licence fee, each of these players has also paid a one-time entry fee of Rs 100 million.

In the past three financial years, Dish TV has paid in licence fee a total of Rs 1.15 billion, Tata Sky Rs 1.48 billion, Sun Direct Rs 729.87 million, Reliance Digital TV paid Rs 207.29 million, Airtel Digital TV Rs 359.5 million and Videocon d2h Rs 2.01 million.