Thread: Tata Sky's strategy to gain market share

I came across one of the other threads, in which people stated that Tata Sky needs to reduce price like other DTH. I have come across this article which clearly states that TS is not planning to reduce cost but improve services (I don't know what they have in mind. The news article is as follows:

Chennai, June 9 Tata Sky will not enter the “price war” that is going on in the DTH industry now. It’s betting big on customer service, technology and the quality of its value-added services.

To install each DTH connection, any service provider spends Rs 5,000-6,000, which includes a set-top box, an antenna, cable and labour charges. And, if the monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) falls to around Rs 100, it will take at least five years to recover the installation cost.

This may prove to be dangerous if a service provider offers heavy discounts on a connection.

Tata Sky says it is keen on gaining value market share. “They (the discount players) are all trading on the future. It’s very risky,” says Mr Vikram Kaushik, Managing Director and CEO , Tata Sky.

He says though the Tata Sky connection comes at a premium when compared to other players, thanks to “our customer service and quality value-added services, we hold over 45 per cent of the DTH market in terms of value. Our ARPU too, is at least 30 to 40 per cent more than most other players in the industry.”

Overall, Mr Kaushik says the industry is witnessing rapid growth. Of the 130 million TV homes, more than 85 million are pay-channel homes.

And, 25 per cent of this is expected to move to the DTH segment by the end of the year. “It’s a galloping growth for the industry.”

With more players in the fray, Tata Sky too, reduced its installation costs, though they are still higher than the other players.

However, at the end of the day, service and value offerings hold the key when it comes to retaining the acquired subscriber and ensuring a good ARPU, he says.

Tata Sky also launched next-generation set-top boxes that come with a 160 GB memory capacity personal video recorder.

“You can record another programme that is going on in a different channel, or you can give the box an instruction to record a particular programme every day at a set time on a specific channel. So, we kept ahead of the rest of the pack, consistently,” he says.

Source: The Hindu Business Line : Tata Sky bets on value-added services to gain share

But the thing is in current market scenario Tata sky is almost the costlies DTH and also the only DTH who charge for their active services as well, where as all active services are free in other DTH.

Also their cost of packages and ala-carte are very high, specially sports add-on pack is very costly.

Yes, it is the costliest and even I accept that. I have never claimed that it is cheap. But I feel that it is "value for money". You get what you pay for. Unlike in Big TV , you don't have to tear your hair out.