Dish TV India’s shares soar 7.5% amidst settlement optimism

Dish TV India, a direct-to-home broadcaster, is facing intense competition from OTTs and cable TV.

Shares of satellite TV broadcaster Dish TV India were up 7.5 per cent on Thursday as investors speculated that the promoters of the company, the Goel family of the Essel group, have signed a settlement with the JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction Company for Rs 1,500 crore. As part of the settlement, JC Flowers ARC, which owns a 26 per cent stake in Dish TV India, will return the shares to the Goel family, which were earlier acquired by Yes Bank following a default. The promoters own close to 6 per cent stake in the company. Yes Bank, which had transferred its bad loan portfolio to JC Flowers ARC, had lent close to Rs 5,000 crore to the Goel family against the Dish TV shares. The market valuation of Dish TV India rose to Rs 3,508 crore on Thursday.

A source said the Goels have time till March next year to pay the settlement amount. JC Flowers ARC and the Goel family did not respond to emails sent on Thursday to elicit their views on the settlement.

Dish TV India, a direct-to-home broadcaster, is facing intense competition from OTTs and cable TV. From more than 160 million homes four years ago, pay TV (cable and satellite) is down to about 100 million. The decline has hit the revenue model of the DTH companies. In fiscal 2023, Tata Play made a loss of Rs 105 crore on revenues of Rs 4,530 crore, while Dish TV’s revenues fell to Rs 1,110 crore in FY23, less than half its FY19 level, while its losses almost doubled to more than Rs 2,230 crore.

In the past, Subhash Chandra Goel, the chairman of the Essel group, had promised to repay all the loans taken from the banks. Business Standard