This story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Thursday May 26, 2011.
Dish TV India, the country’s leading direct-to-home company, has halved its net loss in the fiscal ended March 31 to Rs30.7 crore as compared to Rs60.6 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal.
Standalone revenues for the quarter under review grew 41.4% to Rs451.7 crore year on year. Operating profit rose 93% to Rs108.9 crore during the March quarter.
Subhash Chandra, chairman, Dish TV, said despite a highly competitive six-player market, the company’s initiative to drive average revenue per user (Arpu) has delivered good results. “The enhanced high-definition (HD) bouquet coupled with cricketing season enabled significant addition of HD subscribers who, in turn, contributed their bit in driving the Arpu,” said Chandra.
The launch of 35-channel bouquet improved HD’s contribution to the company’s monthly additions to 7% as against less than 1%
earlier.
The management’s decision to hike prices in the third quarter coupled with movement in packages had a positive impact on the blended Arpu that increased from Rs142 in the third quarter to Rs150 in the fourth quarter of the fiscal.
“While we are still much lower than the optimal, an increase in Arpu, while maintaining leadership, demonstrates the underlying strength of the company’s business model,” Chandra said.
Standalone revenues for the full fiscal 2011 stood at Rs1,524.6 crore, while operating profit for the year was Rs326.8 crore with a margin of 21.4%.
Standalone net loss for the year reduced to Rs189.7 crore as compared to Rs262.1 crore in fiscal 2010.
Dish TV added one million new subscribers in the fourth quarter taking the total subscriber base to gross 10.4 million and net 8.5 million at the end of the quarter. The gross additions almost doubled at 3.5 million vis-a-vis 1.8 million in the previous year.
Subscriber acquisition costs increased marginally to Rs2,224 in the fourth quarter from Rs2,142 in the third quarter due to higher but budgeted spends around Cricket World Cup 2011, officials said.
Jawahar Goel, managing director, Dish TV, said the overall numbers have been achieved despite an addition of 3.5 million new subscribers in the fiscal.
“At the same time, all our key operating metrics registered a marked improvement over the previous year. With over 10 million subscribers now, we have started fiscal 2012 on a strong note and are committed to deliver better on all operating parameters,” he said.
Surendra Goyal and Aditya Mathur, analysts with Citi Investment Research & Analysis, in their latest report on Dish TV, said, “Encouragingly, increase in subscription Arpu by 6% on a quarter-on-quarter basis and 9% on year-on-year basis was ahead of expectations,” the analysts said in their report.
“Dish TV is well placed to benefit from the strong industry growth. Attractive content agreements, scale and management focus on Arpu will ensure a good turnaround,” the analysts said.
Dish TV India, the country’s leading direct-to-home company, has halved its net loss in the fiscal ended March 31 to Rs30.7 crore as compared to Rs60.6 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal.
Standalone revenues for the quarter under review grew 41.4% to Rs451.7 crore year on year. Operating profit rose 93% to Rs108.9 crore during the March quarter.
Subhash Chandra, chairman, Dish TV, said despite a highly competitive six-player market, the company’s initiative to drive average revenue per user (Arpu) has delivered good results. “The enhanced high-definition (HD) bouquet coupled with cricketing season enabled significant addition of HD subscribers who, in turn, contributed their bit in driving the Arpu,” said Chandra.
The launch of 35-channel bouquet improved HD’s contribution to the company’s monthly additions to 7% as against less than 1%
earlier.
The management’s decision to hike prices in the third quarter coupled with movement in packages had a positive impact on the blended Arpu that increased from Rs142 in the third quarter to Rs150 in the fourth quarter of the fiscal.
“While we are still much lower than the optimal, an increase in Arpu, while maintaining leadership, demonstrates the underlying strength of the company’s business model,” Chandra said.
Standalone revenues for the full fiscal 2011 stood at Rs1,524.6 crore, while operating profit for the year was Rs326.8 crore with a margin of 21.4%.
Standalone net loss for the year reduced to Rs189.7 crore as compared to Rs262.1 crore in fiscal 2010.
Dish TV added one million new subscribers in the fourth quarter taking the total subscriber base to gross 10.4 million and net 8.5 million at the end of the quarter. The gross additions almost doubled at 3.5 million vis-a-vis 1.8 million in the previous year.
Subscriber acquisition costs increased marginally to Rs2,224 in the fourth quarter from Rs2,142 in the third quarter due to higher but budgeted spends around Cricket World Cup 2011, officials said.
Jawahar Goel, managing director, Dish TV, said the overall numbers have been achieved despite an addition of 3.5 million new subscribers in the fiscal.
“At the same time, all our key operating metrics registered a marked improvement over the previous year. With over 10 million subscribers now, we have started fiscal 2012 on a strong note and are committed to deliver better on all operating parameters,” he said.
Surendra Goyal and Aditya Mathur, analysts with Citi Investment Research & Analysis, in their latest report on Dish TV, said, “Encouragingly, increase in subscription Arpu by 6% on a quarter-on-quarter basis and 9% on year-on-year basis was ahead of expectations,” the analysts said in their report.
“Dish TV is well placed to benefit from the strong industry growth. Attractive content agreements, scale and management focus on Arpu will ensure a good turnaround,” the analysts said.
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