Dish TV Videocon Ltd, the Merged Entity to Form India’s Largest DTH Operator
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Ending months of speculation, India’s largest DTH operator Dish TV and Videocon d2h have decided to merge forming India’s largest Direct to Home operator. The merged entity to be renamed as Dish TV Videocon Ltd is valued at about 17,000 crores and would serve 27.6 million subscribers.
Strategic Combination:
Dish TV is the market leader in Direct to Home space with more than 15.1 million active customers. It is a division of Zee Entertainment Enterprises owned by Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group. In fact, Dish TV was the first DTH service operator in India, launching services in the year 2003. While Videocon d2h, the DTH arm of Videocon Industries Ltd is the third largest DTH platform with 12.6 million subscribers as of March 2016.
Post-merger, the new combined entity will be renamed as Dish TV Videocon Ltd. And the current Dish TV MD Jawahar Goel will head the new merged entity as Chairman and Managing Director.
Their combined entity’s revenue in FY16 was 5920 crores and has an operating profit of 1826 crore. As per the scheme of amalgamation, Dish TV shareholders will own 55.4% of Dish TV Videocon and the rest 44.6% shares will be owned by Videocon d2h shareholders.
Expecting Substantially More Synergies:
“Today we are very excited about this strategic combination to create a solid platform with decisive and proven leadership at the front would lead Dish TV Videocon to create value for all stakeholders, our customers, employees, and our shareholders.” said Mr. Jawahar Lal Goel, Managing Director, Dish TV.
“There was a need for consolidation in the industry because of the competition and regulatory challenges. This merger will take the company to another level. The combined synergies will create value for all the stakeholders. It’s a new opportunity,” said Mr. Saurabh Dhoot, Executive Chairman, Videocon d2h.
Currently, India has 6 private Direct to Home operators – Dish TV, Tata Sky, Videocon d2h, Airtel Digital TV, Sun Direct and Reliance Digital TV. The public broadcaster Prasar Bharti (Doordarshan) runs DD Free Dish previously known as DD Direct Plus.
