Thread: Suggestions & Help on a New TATA SKY Connection!

Hello all,

I am looking for a DTH service and so far have chosen TATA SKY. I would like to know from the Existing TATA SKY customers and knowledgeable individuals as how would you express your experiences & knowledge about TATA SKY in terms of Quality and Reliability(more of how much do they cheat)? I have been a 'Cable Mafia' victim till now and chose TATA sky for the fact that I watch Hollywood flicks a lot and most of the English channels. Tata seems to be having a nice package lined up for my needs but reading so many pumping and throbbing complains and hate messages, I must admit, I'm a bit vary before stepping up!

Excerpts from their package data that has my intrest-

tatasky > channel packages

Cosmo Pack ( 9 channels ) Subscription price- 450-Annually & 45 monthly

WB, MGM, TCM, Lumière Movies, FX, FOX Crime, Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo, ET Now.


Lifestyle Gold Pack ( 15 channels ) Subscription price same as Cosmo Pack

NDTV Good Times, UTV World Movies, BBC Entertainment, UTV Bindass, 9X, Zoom, Imagine TV, UTV Movies, NewsX, Bloomberg UTV, Colors, Sri Venkateswara Bhakti Channel, E24, Actve Cooking, Actve Darshan.


Now, TATA sky has this as a part of their 'terms of service' & it's worrying me-

tatasky > channel packages

"Tata Sky Ltd. reserves the right to add or drop a channel/ package/ service from any package and/or change the package rates."


A complaint from sometime in 2008 posted on a similar forum stated that TATA removed Zee channels from one of the Popular Packages(Main and compulsory) and bundled them with an OPTIONAL PACKAGE without decreasing the price of the Popular Package. I shall be opting for a one time Annual Subscription for the SUPER SAVER PACK+COSMO PACK+LIFESTYLE GOLD PACK and a Digicom box that costs 999/-.

My questions are-

1) Whether TATA is pretty frequent in moving channels from one package to another or to a newly created package.

2) What are the chances that most of my English Lifestyle and Movie channels could be shifted by TATA(as part of their 'money making' strategy) and I'll be missing them from my Annual Subscription(and may need to subscribe to another package to gain them back).

3) Any Suggestions regarding hidden costs, nasty surprises or things I should be careful about?

4) TATA SKY says that the free installation that they provide would include a '12 meters cable' as part of their 'standard installation'. Any more cable required in the installation would make the installation a 'Non-standard/Premium installation' and would cost extra!

tatasky > cost > offer-installation-free (Rs 1,000 Waived Off Installation Free Offer, click here)

"Standard Installation includes wiring of upto 12 mtrs cable, installation warranty and activation charges. There shall be no waiver on the charges for the Non-Standard and Premium Installation charges which shall continue to be charged extra, as applicable."

Have you got any ideas of what sort of a 'cost' TATA could be talking about? Lets say for another 12 meters of cable required? The Customer Service guy took a long break in answering this question & I had to hang up the phone(Its an Ignorant service!)! lol...


5) I am living in a single floor house in Hyderabad city and there is a 2 storey building towering the western side my house leaving no view of the west. Due to rampant thefts reported of just about anything in my area, I'd like to have the TATA SKY Dish Antenna installed in a secure spot on the western wall of my house and it has the afore mentioned 2 storey building(neigbour) adjoining it. I am ignorant of the technical aspects and would like to know whether an elevation of 3 meters from the ground be good enough and a closed western side(other sides wide open) would cause any hindrances in the polarity/installation?

6) Do they serve the states of Jammu & Kashmir(Domel, Udhampur) and higher Himachal Mountain regions?



I thank you all for your time, valuable help and suggestions. Apolagies for such a long and grinding questionare!

Tata Sky has relatively good customer service as compared to other providers its packages are a bit costly. You must have also done a good research of the packages and its pricing so you can appropriately choose according to your needs.

As of the disclaimer I would say there has rarely been a case of such drop in packages (addition would be beneficial to us) also if the channels are moved to a base pack we are still likely to view the channel provided we are in the base pack it is moved to.

As you have given the case of channels being moved from a base pack to an optional pack could also be taken care of in case you have subscribed for Anuual Mega Pack.

The 999/- offers does not contain any hidden cost you will only have to pay for subscription of package. The 12 meters cable should be long enough to reach from the Antenna to your STB and they have mentioned if additional requirements it'll be charged. The technical aspect will be taken care of by the technician he will intsall the Dish as per your recommendation.
It is available in the North contact reference is: 0172 6600 663

TataSky did "rearrange" channel bouquets a few times. My opinion of TataSky is as follows:

Picture and Sound Quality: 4/5
User Interface: 5/5
Customer Service: 4/5
Channel Packages: 3/5
Pricing: 1/5
Overall: 3.5/5

If you are worried about packages and pricing, you can opt for the Annual Mega Pack that will protect you from price fluctuations and channel drops. In fact, if any channel is added, it will be added automatically to your list.

Originally Posted by rupitas

Tata Sky has relatively good customer service as compared to other providers its packages are a bit costly. You must have also done a good research of the packages and its pricing so you can appropriately choose according to your needs.

As of the disclaimer I would say there has rarely been a case of such drop in packages (addition would be beneficial to us) also if the channels are moved to a base pack we are still likely to view the channel provided we are in the base pack it is moved to.

As you have given the case of channels being moved from a base pack to an optional pack could also be taken care of in case you have subscribed for Anuual Mega Pack.

The 999/- offers does not contain any hidden cost you will only have to pay for subscription of package. The 12 meters cable should be long enough to reach from the Antenna to your STB and they have mentioned if additional requirements it'll be charged. The technical aspect will be taken care of by the technician he will intsall the Dish as per your recommendation.
It is available in the North contact reference is: 0172 6600 663

Thanks for your reply Rupitas,

As far as Channel dropping & associated drama, just4kix has answered that. My reason for concern was that I don’t have the liberty of allowing the Installation Personals to choose their version of a perfect spot for the Dish because if it’s done on the terrace(which would be out of view), it’s most likely to be sabotaged or stolen sooner than you could pronounce ‘cock-a-doodle-doo’. I have another decent safe area with adequate space for the installation; and from the measuring tape, I see that the 12 meters wire won’t suffice as the distance from the TV set to anywhere outside is further away and so the reason for my query.

Now if the technician arrives for the installation and since they’re not disclosing the prices for some strange reason on calls or otherwise, and finally reveals the price that’s exorbitant…. I wouldn’t like to pay for a super amoled, multi glow, high power, Gigabyte transcontinental, glittering wire that costs 125+ rupees per meter and have my installation labelled as ‘special case’ etc. jargon and get fleeced! You know how all this works. The suspense lingers on as to how much this ‘extra’ wire could be estimated for?

Often DIY sites on the internet advice people about the polarity and basic stuff about the antenna which unfortunately the TATA guys won’t be able to handle if they need a western polarity with a clear view as I don’t have it in my house. And no, I won’t be able to afford the highest grand package that safeguards me from shuffled channel packages… lolol..


Anyways, TATA has revamped its channel packages making them well defined and less confusing now. I am hoping to see what’s more in store.

Have been using DTH for many years now, service wise tat is very good, recharge is easy and no issues, package wise i feel they are expensive than others and less options to chose from, currently i am using TS HD and happy with the same.

Originally Posted by dushie

Have been using DTH for many years now, service wise tat is very good, recharge is easy and no issues, package wise i feel they are expensive than others and less options to chose from, currently i am using TS HD and happy with the same.

Thank you for your reply. It's a common acknowledged fact in the DTH industry that during an overcast sky the quality of the telecast gets deteriorated. I am on the ground floor and my query is how bad has it been for you and how long does it last(like an overcast sky for a week means blurred TV all that time or they can improve it)? How prompt can the quality be rectified?




Thanks again.

The company has solid backing of the largest corporate houses and their technology is not bad.

If you are lucky to have all things fall into place the HD+ with Mega Pack is excellent.

What bothers you is the lack of attention till payment date. There is no tracking method of payments etc. You cannot even tell how many free movies (you get 12 a year) are used up and how many are left.

I am using tata sky+ box with a 160 GB HDD (not the HD+ box with 500 GB HDD) from over a year now. I am very happy with the Tata Sky and recommend it to anyone.

Previously, I was using DishTV and I won't recommend that to anyone - bad picture quality, sad user interface, no recorder, recharge was pain, web interface is buggy, the settop box is feels very cheap.

I also watch lot of hollywood movies, the best thing is I only watch recorded movies ad-free whenever I have time.

As far as price is concern I don't spend a lot, 150 for south sports + 45 for english movies + couple of individual channels. So it come around 220(with tax).

Thanks,
Shiju