- After the merger, Airtel Digital TV and Dish TV will create the world’s largest TV distribution company with about 39 million subscribers and over 61 percent share of India’s DTH Market.
- Sunil Bharti led Airtel Digital TV, private equity Warburg Pincus and Dish TV has reached an agreement for merger and will merge by end of the month.
The direct-to-home arm of Sunil Bharti led Bharti Airtel, Digital TV, private equity Warburg Pincus and Dish TV has reached an agreement for merger and is expected to merge at the end of the month.
Now that partial stake sale in the Essel Group-owned Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEE) is done, promoters are focused on completing Dish TV merger.
ET quoted, “The talks were on hold because Essel Group promoters were busy with ZEE stake sale. Now that it is done, the three parties gave come back to the table to stitch the deal.”
All the three ends are working on different options which are tax neutral with the help of lawyers and advisors.
Economic Times on March 18th reported that the talks were initiated Essel group promoters to merge the DTh operations. This move is seen as counter to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio takeover of controlling stake in two of the largest multi-system operators- DEN Networks and Hathway Cable & Datacom.
After the merger, Airtel Digital TV and Dish TV will create the world’s largest TV distribution company with about 39 million subscribers and over 61 percent share of India’s DTH Market.
Dish TV
DishTV India is a company providing Direct to Home (DTH) television service in India. It is a subsidiary of Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was ranked # 437 and # 5 on the list of media companies in Fortune India 500 roster of India’s largest corporations in 2011. Dish TV was also voted India’s most trusted DTH brand according to the Brand Trust Report 2014, a study conducted by Trust Research Advisory.
Dish TV was launched in December 2003, becoming the first company to launch d2h service in the cable dominated Indian market.
It merged with Videocon d2h in 2016 and became the biggest DTH provider in India.
Source- Dish TV
Airtel Digital TV
Airtel digital TV is an Indian direct-broadcast satellite service provider owned and operated by Bharti Airtel. Its satellite service, launched in October 2008, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in India. It has a total subscriber base of 10.07 million as of 30 March 2015.
With Airtel Digital TV merging with Dish TV, the major competition stays between Tata Sky and Dish TV. With both the service provider having their own loyal customer base, it is interesting to see how the companies keep their users loyal.
