The Hindu Business Line : Tata Sky investing Rs 2,000 cr more

Chennai, Sept. 24 Tata Sky aims to add about 70 lakh subscribers to its existing 10 lakh by 2012. It plans to increase its distribution network to 5,000 by the year-end from the present 4,500. “We are also planning to add new regional and international content and launch the personal video recorder (that can record/ pause live programmes) over the next few months,” Mr Vikram Kaushik, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Tata Sky Ltd, said today at a press conference.

The company has already invested about Rs 1,000 crore in operations and plans to add about Rs 2,000 crore more in the next 3-5 years to grow its national base.

According to independent research reports, the DTH market is expected to grow from the present 48 lakh subscribers to 3.76 crore subscribers by 2015. The overall pay TV penetration is expected to grow to 16.5 crore subscribers by 2015.

Tata Sky recently entered into a partnership with the Sun TV Group to beam 15 regional language channels on its platform. When asked if the company now saw the Sun TV Group, which has entered the DTH space, as a competitor (as opposed to content partner) Mr Kaushik said any competition based on pricing alone was not competition.

He said that Tata Sky had a better software and the consequent better quality would sustain the company in the long run. The press conference was held to formally announce the addition of south Indian channels on Tata Sky. The subscription for Tata Sky’s south India package starts at Rs 200, in addition to the Rs 3,000 for the set-top box and Rs 1,000 for installation charges. The company has already seen considerable subscription volumes in Tamil Nadu, Mr Kaushik said declining to share numbers.