The Hindu Business Line : Tata Sky unveils personal video recorder service

Mumbai, Oct. 14 DTH service provider Tata Sky has announced the launch of its PVR service. Branded Tata Sky + (Tata Sky Plus), the personal video recorder (PVR) service implies that users need no longer worry about missing the programme of their choice or give up watching it if a family member wants to watch another one.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Vikram Kaushik, Managing Director and CEO, Tata Sky, described it as a “life changing product” that would end the “war of the remote” in homes. The PVR technology will enable users not only to record TV shows but also pause, rewind and then forward the shows as they are being broadcast on television. It allows up to 45 hours of recording on TV and has capacity of 160 GB. It allows the user to record one channel while watching another channel, record two channels simultaneously and watch one of the channels being recorded, record two channels simultaneously when the TV set is not in use, record two channels at the same time and watch a previously recorded programme and record a TV series automatically.

Premium, but affordable

Priced at Rs 8,999, the PVR is a “premium but affordable” service, Mr Kaushik said. It involves a set-top box with an in-built PVR and a hard disk.

For existing subscribers of Tata Sky, the company will announce special schemes and deep discounts as they already own set-top boxes.

The service will be rolled out in a phased manner and be available across the country by the end of the year. It will first be rolled out in 12 big cities and metros and then go on to more places including tier-II towns, Mr Kaushik said.

Mr Kaushik said other plans for Tata Sky included the launch of HD (high-definition) channels, increased representation of regional language channels and more new-age interactive services such as its host of Actve (Actve) channels.

Replying to questions, he said that while he couldn’t guess how many existing subscribers of Tata Sky would convert to Tata Sky +, he believed it could be anything from 5-10 or even 20 per cent in the near future. In the UK, 50 per cent of those who had subscribed to Sky DTH changed over to Sky + after the service was launched, he said. Tata Sky has been testing the service for the last eight months. The company would not reveal any details on the investments other than to say that the long-term investment in Tata Sky as a whole was Rs 4,000-5,000 crore.

More competition

Tata Sky, which now has 2.7 million subscribers, expects to garner more than 8 million by 2012. The launch of the PVR service makes it the first player in the DTH sector to do so.

Competitors old and new including Dish TV, Big TV and Bharti are also expected to roll out this service, which could be the new battleground in this sector. There are 6 million DTH subscribers in the country today and the market is set to expand rapidly as the new entrants and incumbents hurry to acquire customers.

The marketing and advertising campaign for the new service is expected to break by Diwali. O&M is the advertising agency handling the campaign for Tata Sky +. Actor Aamir Khan, the brand ambassador for Tata Sky, is expected to feature in this campaign as well.

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