Gearing up for the festival season, direct-to-home player Tata Sky has cut the price of its standard definition set-top box by about 18 per cent to Rs 1,800 about a week back. It is also strategically focusing on improving its market share in south India by offering customised subscription packs.

Vikram Mehra, Chief Commerical Officer, Tata Sky, said while the rupee depreciation had hurt the DTH industry, the company’s strategy behind the price cut was to help stimulate demand further. The festival season has traditionally boosted the DTH industry, as consumers go on a durables buying spree.

The company is also focusing on getting its south India strategy right and had roped in actor Mohanlal to launch a new campaign earlier this month keeping in mind the Onam festival.

“In the last six months, we have been focusing on improved offerings for the south. In Kerala, we have launched a new base price of Rs 170, which has 19 Malayalam channels and English news channels, including Al Jazeera ,” said Mehra. He said literacy levels being high in the State, a number of news channels, besides regional channels, have been thrown in the base pack.

The company has also added nearly 3,000 dealers in the State and has trained Malayalam-speaking call centre employees to handle customer service.

The company has similarly priced base packs with the relevant regional languages in the other southern states. “Traditionally, we have not been strong in the south, but with the new offering and subscription options, we hope to change that,” he added.

The company, which was earlier facing capacity constraints, is in the process of upgrading its older customers from MPEG2 to MPEG 4, which has helped it offer additional regional channels. It is spending nearly Rs 900 crore on technology upgradation. As of April 2013, Tata Sky’s subscriber base stood at 11.5 million.

meenakshi.v@thehindu.co.in

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