GTPL Hathway surpasses Tata Play as India’s top TV distributor by FY26 revenue
GTPL Hathway reported FY26 revenue of Rs 3,746 crore, ahead of Tata Play’s Rs 3,530 crore, despite serving fewer subscribers. The RIL-backed operator is adding scale through rural HITS services and its Rs 36 crore acquisition of ACT’s cable TV business as India’s pay-TV base contracts.
What happened
RIL-backed GTPL Hathway became India’s largest TV distributor by FY26 revenue, surpassing Tata Play despite fewer subscribers. Both face declining pay-TV demand
Key facts
- GTPL Hathway FY26 revenue: Rs 3,746 crore
- Tata Play FY26 revenue: Rs 3,530 crore
- GTPL active cable subscribers: 9.6 million
- Tata Play DTH subscribers: over 15 million
- GTPL FY26 net profit: Rs 15.6 crore versus Rs 47.9 crore in FY25
- Tata Play FY26 net loss: Rs 551 crore versus Rs 529 crore in FY25
- GTPL acquired ACT cable TV business for Rs 36 crore
- ACT acquisition adds over 600,000 subscribers
- RIL-owned Hathway Cable & Datacom ownership in GTPL: 37.3%
- India active pay-TV base: 49 million in FY26 versus 70 million in FY21
- Top 10 cable-company subscriber base: 31 million in FY26 versus 38 million in FY25
Why this matters
GTPL’s acquisition of ACT’s cable TV business highlights how selective local-cable consolidation can add distribution scale and strengthen economics as standalone pay-TV growth fades.
What to watch
- GTPL post-acquisition subscriber retention, integration costs and EBITDA margin movement.
- Growth in GTPL broadband subscribers and bundled-household ARPU versus video-only customers.
- Further regional cable consolidation, HITS rollout additions and any new RIL-linked distribution investments.
- Tata Play broadband additions, churn trends and OTT/connected-TV product traction.
- TRAI pricing, channel-bundling or carriage-fee changes that alter distributor economics.
- Quarterly pay-TV subscriber declines and the pace of smart-TV/OTT viewing substitution in rural India.
- GTPL is likely to pursue additional acquisitions of regional cable assets and last-mile operator partnerships, particularly in underpenetrated rural and semi-urban markets.
- GTPL will prioritize broadband-plus-TV bundles to raise household ARPU and protect customer relationships as standalone TV demand weakens.
- Tata Play is likely to intensify broadband, OTT aggregation and retention offers rather than chase uneconomic DTH subscriber growth.
- Broadcasters may seek stronger carriage and placement economics from the largest distributors, while distributors push back on content costs in a contracting subscriber market.