Tata Sky offers a-la carte service

DTH major Tata Sky on Monday launched its a-la carte channel offering that will allow customers to choose and pay for the channels they want to watch.

Tata Sky is the first operator to launch this service, following Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)’s orders for digital platforms to offer consumers the choice of paying only for channels that they wish to watch.

“In October 2010, we launched TruChoice, which allowed users to opt for channels of the same genre. The ‘Make My Pack’ service further simplifies channel selection,” said Mr Vikram Mehra, Tata Sky Chief Marketing Officer.

The service would be available from January 10 and will allow subscribers to either create their own pack with only individual channels or do a mix-n-match of the existing packs with standalone channels, he added.

TRAI had set a deadline of January 1 for DTH and IPTV operators to offer a-la carte channels on their platforms. Under the offer, Tata Sky customers would have to pay Rs 150 (inclusive of taxes) to get the chosen channels, available between Rs 5-25 per channel, along with the mandatory Doordarshan channels.

This would mean if a customer chooses channels priced at Rs 25, he would get six channels along with the DD channels. Given the sheer complexity of providing options to customers, the implementation of the order is taking time.

“A-la carte means offering all sorts of permutations and combinations to customers and just as many complications in servicing them. That is the reason it took much,” said Mr Mehra.