I&B Ministry revenue from DTH operators down to Rs 647.23 crore in FY 20

The revenue earned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) from the Direct to Home (DTH) operators during 2019-20 came down to Rs 647.23 crore, a reduction of around 40% compared to the last year. The receipts of DTH during the last year were revealed in the ‘Annual Accounts at a Glance’ report for 2019-20 released a few days ago.

The Ministry received Rs 1093.41 crore from the DTH operators in 2017-18, whereas in 2018-19 it received Rs 1025.05 crore from the DTH operators. This came down in FY 20 by around 40% with the revenue earned by the I&B Ministry from DTH operators at Rs 647.23 crore.

DTH operators are currently mandated to pay 10 percent of their gross revenues as the annual license fee to the I&B Ministry. As of today, there are four private DTH players namely Airtel Digital TV, Dish TV India Limited, Tata Sky and Sun Direct.

FY 20 marked the first complete financial year of New Tariff Order being in place. The annual report doesn’t mention the reason behind the decrease in revenue, however, since the New Tariff Order has come content cost for the DTH operators is now pass-through leading to lower operating costs.