Tata Sky has changed its name to Tata Play, marking the company’s expansion beyond its DTH business into OTT and broadband.
Contents
History
The rebranding comes after an 18-year run, transforming it into a content distribution company.
It started out in 2004, after its launch as an 80:20 joint venture between Tata Sons and Rupert Murdoch-owned 21st Century Fox.
When Murdoch sold Fox’s entertainment business to The Walt Disney Company, the stake in Tata Sky transferred to Disney.
Products And Services
It claims to have over 19 million active subscribers.
Its services include the renamed Tata Play Fiber- a 100% fiber network, and aggregator app Tata Play Binge which offers content from 13 OTT platforms and best of broadcast channels in one integrated pack.
It has now included Netflix in its OTT offerings on the Binge service, along with Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar.
Netflix Tie-Up
With the new development, it seeks to provide a unified experience to its customers who are consuming content on a variety of platforms.
Netflix recently slashed its rates to Rs 199 for the basic mobile plan accessible on any device.
These revisions will help it reach a wider subscriber base and also help Tata Play improve its ARPU.
Customer Benefits
To enhance customer convenience, Tata Play will offer free service visits, waiving service visit charges of Rs 175.
DTH customers who have not recharged their packs can also get reconnections for free.
Harit Nagpal, managing director and chief executive, Tata Play said that the new brand identity conveys the message that it is no longer just a DTH player but a “content distributor across live television and OTT services”.
With its combo packs, different members of the same family can watch their preferred content across devices when they’re not all watching TV.
DTH Remains Integral Part
He commented that although TV viewership has taken a massive shift to OTT due to the pandemic, there hasn’t been a drop in TV viewership numbers and that “cord-cutting is still some time away.”
The company’s DTH business will continue to remain an integral part.
Nagpal said that there are 130 million homes with TV connections and growing.
OTT is a subset of that, and its users are TV users who also subscribe to OTT.
Hence, for the company it “makes sense” to be “in both the aggregation services, and offer combined offerings.”
Launch, Offers
Existing customers will be shifted to the new services starting from 27 January.
Presently, consumers have access to 12 OTT apps (excluding Amazon) on Tata Play Binge at Rs 299 a month.
To access Amazon, customers have to pay an additional fee of Rs 179 a month.
The new combo packs starting at Rs 399 per month will come into effect from 27 January.
Prices will vary depending on the number of screens, DTH connections and packs subscribed to.
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