IPTV bundles promise ARPU lift, but can they halt India’s DTH subscriber slide?

India’s DTH operators are pinning their hopes on IPTV-led bundling to arrest revenue decline, betting that higher ARPUs from integrated broadband and OTT packs can offset pressure on the core TV business. But even as these strategies promise short-term relief, a bigger question looms: can ARPU gains compensate for a steadily eroding subscriber base?

After years of steady cord-cutting and intensifying competition from OTT platforms and DD Free Dish, the DTH industry is at an inflection point. Traditional satellite TV, once the backbone of India’s pay-TV ecosystem, is struggling to justify its value in a household that now juggles multiple OTT subscriptions alongside a monthly DTH bill.

Industry experts say IPTV-led bundling can slow the bleeding, but only up to a point. The issue is fundamentally about value. A typical DTH household pays around Rs 350 a month for TV and then spends extra on OTT apps.

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Temporary ARPU boost, structural challenges remain

A broadcast expert believes the ARPU story, while real, may be fleeting.

“IPTV-led bundling will provide a temporary bump in ARPU. However, anyone can be a content aggregator today,” the expert said. “The real value-add for a DTH company is its subscriber base and that base is eroding. Without stabilising or growing subscribers, it’s difficult to win a long-term war,” he said.

DTH reports another weak quarter 

This tension between higher ARPU and falling subscribers is playing out clearly in the numbers. According to a recent Crisil Ratings report, private DTH companies are expected to see revenue degrowth of 3-4% this fiscal, an improvement from the 5% decline seen last year largely due to IPTV expansion, bundled offerings, higher marketing income and cuts in customer acquisition subsidies such as discounted set-top boxes.

Yet the subscriber story remains grim. The subscriber base of private DTH players has shrunk from 7.2 crore in FY19 to 6.19 crore by FY24, fell another 9% in FY25 and is expected to drop below 5.1 crore by the end of the current fiscal. More affluent users are migrating to OTT-only consumption, while price-sensitive households are opting for DD Free Dish.

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IPTV: A buffer, not a cure

According to a DTH expert, “The churn will reduce due to IPTV bundling and saturation in the overall OTT market,” but “the more important KPIs will be better content by broadcasters on linear TV and the final pricing to consumers when IPTV is bundled.”

Highlighting the amount of money being paid by users to avail the services, the expert said, “A typical DTH household pays around Rs 350 per month for linear TV channels and then another X amount to watch select OTT apps. This double pricing impacts DTH subscriptions. Subscribers are falling because they don’t feel they are getting enough value from DTH alone.”

IPTV is emerging as a key buffer against this decline. Crisil notes that IPTV subscribers have nearly quadrupled to 21.3 lakh as of September 2025, from about 5.7 lakh in FY24, creating fresh upselling opportunities. By delivering live TV and OTT over broadband, often without a dish, operators hope to limit churn and keep households within their ecosystem.

“Although cord cutting has put pressure on DTH companies, operators are making inroads into IPTV to drive bundled services like OTT, broadband and live TV. This has provided significant upselling opportunities and is likely to limit subscriber churn, it said.

There are also regional pockets of resilience. In parts of South India, cord-cutting has been slower, with at least one leading DTH operator managing to protect its subscriber base and even gain market share. A strong focus on regional content and limited competition from DD Free Dish—which carries only three of the top 10 most-viewed channels—has helped sustain stickiness in these markets.

Margins hold, but risks persist

From a financial perspective, operators are managing to hold the line. Crisil expects margins to remain stable at around 44–45% this fiscal, helped by milder revenue degrowth, marketing income from OTT aggregator platforms on hybrid boxes, and reduced subsidies on new connections.

However, the long-term risks remain significant. “Though revenue will be impacted by the reduction in subscriber base, this will be partially offset by marketing income on OTT aggregator platforms,” said Gauri Gupta, Team Leader at Crisil Ratings, adding “Reduction in customer acquisition incentives will also support profitability.”

Still, tariff hikes by DTH operators and increasingly competitive digital alternatives could further dent overall TV viewership. While broadband-plus-OTT bundles remain more than twice as expensive as basic DTH packs, limiting mass adoption among value-conscious households, this price gap is narrowing.

Financial performance shows pressure

India’s DTH sector continued to face pressure in Q2 FY26, with financial performance mirroring subscriber declines and the structural shift toward connected TV and OTT.

Dish TV’s operating performance remained weak in Q2 FY26. Total income fell to ₹299.2 crore from ₹400 crore in Q2 FY25—a decline of 25.2 percent. Airtel Digital TV posted relatively stable numbers, reporting revenue of ₹753 crore in Q2 FY26 versus ₹758 crore last year, a marginal decline of 0.66 percent.

For H1 FY26, Dish TV’s income dropped sharply to ₹633.4 crore from ₹861.5 crore in H1 FY25, a fall of 26.5 percent. Airtel Digital TV reported H1 FY26 revenue of ₹1,516 crore, slightly lower than ₹1,535 crore a year earlier, a dip of 1.24 percent.

Tata Play’s most recent disclosed financials show FY25 revenue falling to ₹4,109 crore from ₹4,327 crore in FY24, a decline of 5.05 percent. Sun Direct’s quarterly FY26 revenue figures were unavailable, but its operating income for the first nine months of FY25 fell to ₹939 crore from ₹1,042 crore in FY24, a drop of 9.88 percent.

Earlier quarterly filings further highlight the difficult environment. Dish TV’s Q1 FY26 income fell 27.7 percent year-on-year to ₹329.4 crore, while losses widened sharply. Airtel Digital TV’s Q1 FY26 revenue of ₹763 crore represented a 1.8 percent year-on-year dip. Tata Play’s consolidated net loss jumped to ₹510 crore in FY25, with subscriber numbers dropping to 18 million from a peak of 23 million.

The financial strain is clear at the sector level as well. According to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, non-tax revenue from DTH services fell to ₹648.73 crore in FY25, down from ₹692 crore in FY24 and far below the ₹859.96 crore recorded in FY23.

The decline in DTH subscribers is part of a larger shift in how Indian households consume video content. TRAI’s subscriber data reflects the cumulative effect of OTT adoption, rising connected TV penetration, and growing appeal of DD Free Dish among price-sensitive households. Broadcasters themselves have slowed the launch of new satellite channels, with the total count stagnating between 912 and 918 over the past year, signalling a strategic pivot toward digital-first content investments.

TRAI data shows that the active DTH subscriber base of the four players fell sharply from 62.17 million in June 2024 to 56.07 million in June 2025—a loss of more than six million users in 12 months.

The decline in the private DTH subscriber base was steady through the period, underscoring the structural nature of the slowdown. Subscriber numbers slipped from 62.17 million in June 2024 to 59.91 million by September 2024, before falling further to 58.22 million in December 2024 and 56.92 million in March 2025. The erosion continued into the current fiscal, with subscribers dipping marginally to 56.07 million in June 2025, followed by a sharper drop to 52.78 million by September 2025.

Despite the contraction, the relative market shares of Tata Play, Airtel Digital TV, Dish TV, and Sun Direct have remained largely unchanged. As of June 2025, Tata Play led with 31.42 percent, followed by Airtel Digital TV (29.33 percent), Sun Direct (20.13 percent), and Dish TV (19.13 percent. This stability shows the challenge is industry-wide, not operator-specific.

 Dish TV reported a sharp decline in Q1 FY26 revenue, falling 27.7 percent to ₹329.4 crore from ₹455.3 crore a year earlier. Subscription revenue fell 10.8 percent, and advertising income dropped by more than half. Losses widened from ₹1.6 crore to ₹94.5 crore.

Airtel Digital TV reported a smaller decline, with Q1 FY26 revenue at ₹763 crore, down 1.8 percent year-on-year, maintaining a customer base of 15.7 million. For FY25, Airtel’s Digital TV business posted revenue of ₹3,060 crore, broadly flat year-on-year. Bharti Airtel MD Gopal Vittal noted that the company has achieved a record-high market share and is eliminating subsidies to strengthen cash flows.

Tata Play saw FY25 revenue fall 5.46 percent to ₹4,082 crore, while losses widened to ₹529.43 crore. Its subscriber base shrank to 18 million from a peak of 23 million. Analysts at CRISIL expect no revenue growth in FY26, due to DD Free Dish’s popularity in smaller towns and a rapid shift to digital streaming in urban areas.

For India’s DTH operators, IPTV-led bundling is less a silver bullet and more a necessary bridge to relevance. Higher ARPUs can cushion revenues and stabilise margins in the near term, but they cannot fully offset a shrinking subscriber base unless consumers once again see clear value in the offering.