DishTV Posts Q3 Net Loss At 2.85 Crore; Revenue Falls 22.3 Pc To <span Class='webrupee'>₹</span>552 Crore

The company had reported a net profit of ₹80.21 crore in the October-December quarter a year ago, DishTV said in a BSE filing.

Its revenue from the operation fell 22.31 per cent to ₹552.09 crore during the quarter under review as against ₹710.67 crore of the corresponding quarter a year ago.

"Challenges like low average revenues per user (ARPU) resulting from loss of revenues due to delayed and missing recharges impacted company revenues as offerings from free DTH and OTT remained alternatives for video watchers in the bottom and upper end of the pyramid respectively," said an earnings statement from DishTV.

DishTV's total expenses stood at ₹567.16 crore, down 6.49 per cent in the third quarter of FY23, as against ₹606.56 crore in the corresponding quarter.

"The promotion of the OTT aggregation platform launched during the period had an impact on the EBITDA margin for the quarter which came at 47.4 per cent. Net loss for the period was ₹2.8 crore," said DishTV.

During the quarter DishTV's subscription revenues were at ₹427.4 crore, down 33.82 per cent, as against ₹645.9 crore in the third quarter of FY22.

Its subscription revenues had contributed 77.4 per cent of its total revenue in Q3/FY23, lower than 90.9 per cent of the October-December quarter a year ago.

DishTV's advertisement revenue was at ₹8.5 crore, down 24.77 per cent, as against ₹11.3 crore.

However, its revenue from 'marketing and promotional fees' was up over two folds to ₹100.2 crore from ₹38.6 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

According to DishTV, the third quarter is traditionally a period of higher consumer spending due to festivals and related celebrations.

"A strong festival season aided subscriber additions which ultimately led to higher net adds during the quarter. However, fresh additions were lukewarm in rural India. Erratic rainfall in the third quarter did not help the already fragile rural sentiment resulting in rural consumers continuing to maintain spending cautiously," it said.

According to DishTV, popularity of OTT video platforms, with personal viewing content, remained high as compared to platforms with family content.

"However, growing consumption of content on OTT may have a direct impact on data prices in future. In fact, rising data costs are already a hot topic of discussion in the country," it said.

Over the outlook, DishTV said it is "hopeful of an overall recovery in rural and urban consumer spending" driven primarily by the impetus to increased disposable income in the hands of the consuming class in the recently announced Union Budget.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.