KOLKATA: The DTH sector has added 120,000 new users in July-September quarter to reach the total active subscriber base of 70.70 million. Leading player Tata Sky beat out competitors to once again emerge as the most favoured brand, while also extending its market share to 32.58 per cent from 32.09 per cent in the previous quarter.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) released ‘The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators’ report for the quarter ended 30 September 2020. Among other players, Dish TV gave up some of its market share to settle at 27 per cent at the end of Q2 FY21. Airtel Digital TV and Sun Direct are third and fourth on the list, controlling 24.59 per cent and 15.83 per cent of the market respectively.

A spokesperson for Tata Sky said, “We are happy to see the continued growth in the DTH sector. A strong brand like Tata Sky is becoming even more preferred with each passing day.”

As on 30 September 2020, there are 1,697 (includes two provisional MSOs) MSOs registered with the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB). Further, as per the data reported by MSOs/HITS operators, there are 12 MSOs and one HITS operator that have a subscriber base greater than one million.

A total number of 911 private satellite TV channels have been permitted by the MIB for uplinking only/downlinking only/both uplinking and downlinking.

There are 327 pay channels as on 30 September 2020, which include 231 SD (standard definition) pay TV channels and 96 HD (high definition) Pay TV channels.