Complaining of high taxation and inability to lobby effectively before government agencies, Direct-to-Home (DTH) television companies have called for strengthening the DTH Operators Association of India (DOAI), the apex body of all DTH operators.
Formed in early 2008, the DOAI members include all the existing private DTH operators: Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Big TV, Digital TV and Videocon.
“The association has to work effectively, which it has not done so far,” said Vikram Kaushik, CEO, Tata Sky, the second-largest private DTH operator, having a gross subscriber base of over 4.5 million.
Sources say the five-player private DTH industry, with over 15.5 million subscribers face a combined losses in excess of Rs 3,000 crore this year. The reasons include higher cost of operations coupled with a combined tax rate of around 50 per cent, enforced by both central and state governments. This has propelled the need to have a more effective DTH association, some players feel.
“The taxes levied on us are among the highest in the country. We all are losing money, yet government feels that all DTH players have enough cash to burn. There is a constant need to sensitise the governments, which DOAI can do effectively. We also need a separate broadcast regulator for the sector, as the current regulator has a telecom mindset,” Kaushik says.
Says Jawahar Goel, MD, Dish TV, the country’s largest operator, with 5.2 million subscribers, on DOAI: “We are a small body now, with only a handful of players. We have got some success as an industry body on the entertainment tax issue in Uttar Pradesh. We are taking up issues that are common.”
Industry sources also say, however, that DOAI has not been an effective body because of several key differences among DTH operators, specially on issues like interoperability or portability of DTH set-top boxes, further expansion of foreign investment caps, pricing of pay channels and carriage fees paid by broadcasters.
Says Ajay Puri, CEO, Airtel Digital TV: “While DOAI has made representations to the government, we are not as strong as Cellular Operators Association of India, the apex body of all GSM mobile companies. We need to find a person to head DOAI who can devote his entire time to the cause of DTH players.” Currently, the heads of some of the companies tend to talk directly to each other for consultation and seek independent appointments with the I&B ministry, rather than meeting as an association, insiders say.
