Tata Sky hints at joining DTH price war
The Economic Times — September 24, 2007

Following price cuts by Maran brothers' Sun Network, Tata Sky went into publicity overdrive and hinted it might consider reducing its basic rate.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Vikram Kaushik, CEO and managing director, Tata Sky, said, "Ours is the best service at the price we are quoting but we cannot rule out anything. Globally, whenever set-top-box services were offered at a throwaway price or free, consumers took them but later opted out, like for instance in Brazil."

In Britain, Europe, the US and Australia, boxes are given free but subscription rates are as high as the equivalent of $40 per month, which cover much more than the cost."

Painting a rosy picture for the DTH industry, Kaushik said its growth rate would be as high as 700 per cent in the near future.

"By 2015, as high as 90 per cent of India will be covered by DTH services. We are confident of capturing bulk of the market share," said Kaushik.

Implying that Sun Network's price of Rs1,000 as installation fee and Rs75 monthly subscription may have hidden costs and in the end may prove counterproductive, Kaushik opined, "We are not really concerned about our competitors' offers because our interactive services are unmatched."

"Independent research undertaken by global leaders AC Nielsen has shown that our buyers are loyal to us because our vulnerability share is as low as 3 percent, which means that we have virtually no danger of being upstaged by technological advances and resultant obsoleteness," Kaushik averred.

Striking a combative note, Kaushik added, "South India is an extremely important market for us. We have made every effort to provide our customers from this region with entertainment that suits their needs. The introduction of 15 Sun Channels along with content from other leading broadcasters from the south is only the beginning."

"We have lots more lined up for them in the future. Providing instant cooking recipes and personal video recorders that will enable viewers to recall telecasts and view them at the time of their choice are our forte - something that none of our competitors have no way of matching," he said.

Tata Sky's subscriber base has crossed the million mark within a year of operation. Although there are no independent estimates of exact figures of coverage, the company states that its innovative schemes like "user-gets-user", which promises that every new user and their introducers will get a month's subscription free is bound to widen its base.