Pay-TV might be having a hard time now, but it’s too early to write it off

Top broadcast industry leaders remain optimistic about the resilience of the Indian pay-TV industry, though the total paid subscriber base has fallen below 100 million for the first time since the advent of private satellite TV broadcasting three decades ago.

Experts said the pay-TV industry’s subscriber base has dropped to an estimated 95 million homes—a significant decline from 120 million just a few years ago—amid competition from over-the-top (OTT) platforms, Prasar Bharati’s free direct-to-home (DTH) service DD Free Dish, and Google-owned YouTube.

The availability of premium sports and entertainment content for free on streaming platforms has also played a role in denting the pay-TV market, they added.

In a recent interview with ET, Jio Star vice-chairman Uday Shankar said TV remains a dominant force in India and reports of its demise are premature. He also stated that there is significant opportunity to reinvent, revitalise, and make TV stronger and healthier.

“The decline in pay-TV numbers isn’t the full story. What really matters is the overall TV universe, including free TV (DD Free Dish), and that hasn’t come down. In a value-conscious market like India, if consumers don’t see enough value in pay-TV but find reasonable value in free TV, they’ll naturally migrate to free TV,” he said.

Tata Play CEO Harit Nagpal said the pay-TV industry grew for over a decade, but in the last three to four years, pay content, including drama and sports, was offered for free on other media in real-time, presenting significant challenges.“Sagging industry revenues led to cutting investments on content, denting growth even more. For the industry to grow again, windowing of content, just as cinema does, and doubling down on content to fight UGC will help,” he added.While subscription-based streaming platforms continue to attract premium audiences, DD Free Dish is eroding the base by capturing bottom-tier customers.

YouTube, India’s largest free video streaming platform, is also having a major impact on the pay-TV market, cutting across audience segments.

Sony Pictures Networks India CEO Gaurav Banerjee, in an interview with ET, said the pay-TV market is extremely important for all broadcasters, including Sony, and as a content provider to distribution platform operators (DPOs), it can only ensure that the content it creates resonates with audiences.

“Pay-TV is going through a challenging phase globally and not just in India. But I think the pay-TV story in India will be different due to its affordability, and that will give pay-TV legs in this country,” he noted.

During its Q2 earnings call, Zee Entertainment CEO Goenka said that linear TV will remain relevant in this country for a long time, as it still provides massive reach to advertisers compared to digital. “India will always remain a TV and a digital market. It will not be a TV or a digital market, unlike the western parts of the world,” he noted.

As per industry estimates, linear TV reaches 900 million audiences compared to 540 million OTT audiences.

DPOs like Dish TV also say that the pay-TV market can be revived through timely interventions by the broadcasters and the regulator. They argued that broadcasters should avoid providing content for free on digital, whether through their own OTT platforms or telecom bundling.

They also suggested that the regulator should ensure parity between DTH and other DPOs by reducing the licence fee before phasing it out completely by FY27. This, they added, would lead to cost savings for DTH operators, which could then be reinvested into providing better services for end customers.

“Why will customers pay for TV channels if broadcasters are making premium content free on digital besides bundling content with telco packs? The price increase by broadcasters is also hurting pay-TV as customers today have multiple options like OTT, YouTube, and DD Free Dish,” said Dish TV CEO Manoj Dobhal.

Pay-TV’s decline began with the implementation of the new tariff order (NTO) and the subsequent increase in TV bills, followed by the Covid pandemic a year later, which accelerated consumer migration towards streaming platforms, said PWC Media and Entertainment Senior Advisor Rajesh Sethi.