India’s pay direct-to-home sector continued to shrink in the December 2025 quarter, with the total active subscriber base falling 12.4% year-on-year to 50.99 million, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s Performance Indicator Report for the quarter ended December 2025.
Market share among the four private DTH operators remained concentrated. Tata Play led with 31.08%, followed by Bharti Telemedia at 28.53%, Sun Direct at 21.17% and Dish TV at 19.22%.
The report also flagged growing activity in internet protocol television. As per information provided by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, 70 IPTV operators have submitted self-declarations to offer services.
Bharti Airtel had the largest active IPTV base at 25,41,406 subscribers, followed by Andhra Pradesh State Fibernet Ltd with 4,43,476 and Fastway Transmission with 98,520.
In radio, the number of operational private FM channels declined during the quarter. As of September 30, 2025, there were 387 operational private FM channels across 113 cities run by 31 operators, based on data reported to the regulator.
During the December quarter, South Asia FM surrendered its FM station in Mumbai, while Next Radio Limited gave up its Chennai licence.
As a result, the number of private FM channels stood at 385 as on December 31, 2025, across 113 cities operated by 31 private FM radio companies. Mumbai now has eight operational private FM channels, while Chennai has six.
Advertising revenue for the 385 private FM channels stood at Rs 419 crore in the quarter ended December 30, 2025, down from Rs 500 crore reported by 388 channels in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.
In the cable distribution segment, 774 multi system operators and one headend in the sky operator were registered with the ministry as on December 31, 2025. Of these, 10 MSOs and one HITS operator reported a subscriber base of more than one million.
Broadcaster disclosures under the Tariff Order of March 3, 2017, as amended, show that of the 911 permitted satellite television channels available for downlinking in India, 335 were pay channels as on December 31, 2025. Of these, 232 were standard definition channels and 103 were high definition channels.
Market share among the four private DTH operators remained concentrated. Tata Play led with 31.08%, followed by Bharti Telemedia at 28.53%, Sun Direct at 21.17% and Dish TV at 19.22%.
The report also flagged growing activity in internet protocol television. As per information provided by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, 70 IPTV operators have submitted self-declarations to offer services.
Bharti Airtel had the largest active IPTV base at 25,41,406 subscribers, followed by Andhra Pradesh State Fibernet Ltd with 4,43,476 and Fastway Transmission with 98,520.
In radio, the number of operational private FM channels declined during the quarter. As of September 30, 2025, there were 387 operational private FM channels across 113 cities run by 31 operators, based on data reported to the regulator.
During the December quarter, South Asia FM surrendered its FM station in Mumbai, while Next Radio Limited gave up its Chennai licence.
As a result, the number of private FM channels stood at 385 as on December 31, 2025, across 113 cities operated by 31 private FM radio companies. Mumbai now has eight operational private FM channels, while Chennai has six.
Advertising revenue for the 385 private FM channels stood at Rs 419 crore in the quarter ended December 30, 2025, down from Rs 500 crore reported by 388 channels in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.
In the cable distribution segment, 774 multi system operators and one headend in the sky operator were registered with the ministry as on December 31, 2025. Of these, 10 MSOs and one HITS operator reported a subscriber base of more than one million.
Broadcaster disclosures under the Tariff Order of March 3, 2017, as amended, show that of the 911 permitted satellite television channels available for downlinking in India, 335 were pay channels as on December 31, 2025. Of these, 232 were standard definition channels and 103 were high definition channels.
