Cautious but optimistic about improvement of liquidity situation: DishTV

New Delhi, Feb 12 () DTH operator DishTV on Wednesday said it was "cautious but optimistic" about improvement in its liquidity situation and is in touch with its lenders.

The Essel Group-controlled firm, which on Wednesday reported a net loss of Rs 66.77 crore for the October-December quarter, expects to get alternative credit facilities to finance regular capital expenditure (capex) to normalise the utilisation of cash flows towards debt repayment going forward.

DishTV India has paid part of the overdue loan amount and is "confident of clearing the balance overdue" by the end of this month, the company said in a post-earnings statement.

According to the company, the debt and interest payment obligations, which fell due after the particular incident of non-service, have also been fulfilled on time and payments overdue to creditors are also being made as per the respective plan agreed with them.

"We are cautious but optimistic about improvement in our liquidity situation. We are in regular touch with lenders and hope to get alternative credit facilities to finance regular capex so as to normalise the utilization of cash flows towards debt repayment going forward," said DishTV India Group CEO Anil Dua.

In the absence of fresh credit availability, Dish TV had already been drawing on its internal cash accruals to fund essential capital expenditure for a significant period of time, it added.

"A subsequent default in the payment of its short-term loan amounting to Rs 250 crore led to a downgrade of its short-term banking facilities to 'CARE D' by Care Ratings Ltd. The default, which was the result of a temporary cash shortfall further impacted the company's aggressiveness to target available customers in the market," the firm said.

The eagerly awaited third quarter did not turn out to be the typical "star performer of the fiscal" as consumer sentiment remained cautious.

"Dish TV India witnessed tapering subscriber acquisitions in the period after Diwali. This was despite a good start to the third quarter and an expectation that the second half of the fiscal should be much stronger than the modest first half," it added.

The firm said that considering that the first half of the financial year also witnessed a macroeconomic overhang, the third quarter faced the additional burden of complications arising on the cash flow front at the company.

Realising that the short term may be riddled with macroeconomic challenges, DishTV India is focused on creating subscription packages that top the value for money quotient, it added.

"I can see the silver lining clearly and that is the fact that we have a strong subscriber base. Also, notwithstanding multiple video viewing platforms in the market today, television in its traditional form is not going anywhere. We continue to invest in the business with that belief," Dua said.

He also added, "The result is that both DishTV and d2h continue to be the preferred choice of TV subscribers in their respective markets." KRH HRS