Airtel, Dish TV Will Merge To Create World’s Biggest DTH Company With 4 Crore Users, 62% Market Share!

And at last, the signals are all clear.

As per incoming reports, Airtel Digital TV and Dish TV is now all set to merge into one entity, which will become World’s biggest DTH company with 4 crore users.

We had reported about a possible merger between Airtel and Dish TV last year, but after a Supreme Court order regarding pending dues of Airtel’s telecom services, the talks were halted.

But now, as per some sources, the deal is almost through, and a formal announcement can be made anytime now.

Airtel and Dish TV have refused to acknowledge this development, however, at the same time, they haven’t even denied this development.

Airtel, Dish TV Will Merge To Create World’s Biggest DTH Company

Dish TV, which is India’s #1 DTH company with 24 million users, will merge with Airtel Digital TV, which is the DTH arm of Bharti Enterprises which as around 16 million users.

Once merged, the new entity will have 40 million or 4 crore users, and will become World’s biggest DTH firm in volume and expansion.

Dish TV, which is a subsidiary of Zee Entertainment, became #1 player in India after merging with Videocon d2H. They had operating revenue of Rs 893.2 crore and operating profit of Rs 520.5 crore last year, with 23.94 million users.

Airtel Digital TV, on the other hand, had revenues of Rs 789.3 crore with Ebitda of Rs 560.7 crore with 16 million users.

While Airtel’s Digital TV is valued at Rs 11,300 crore, Dish TV’s market cap is Rs 2401 crore.

Once merged, the new entity will control 62% market share of India’s DTH business with 40 million users. At #2 will be Tata Sky with 25% market share.

How Will This Merger Happen?

There are three parties involved in this deal: Bharti Airtel, owners of Airtel Digital TV, promoters of Dish TV wherein Zee Entertainment has an important stake, and Warburg Pincus which owns 20% stake in Bharti Telemedia (which they bought for $350 million in 2017)

Now, as per the deal structure, the DTH business of Dish TV will be hived off, and merged with Bharti Telemedia, which owns Airtel Digital TV.

Post-merger, Dish TV will continue to offer non-DTH services such as Dish Infra Services. They also have a partnership with SITI Networks, for the distribution of cable services.

We will keep you updated, as more details come in.