*WHAT IS TATA SKY?
*Tata Sky is a DTH(Direct to Home) satellite television provider in India. It is a joint venture between the Tata Group, that owns 80% and Star TV that owns a 20% stake.
Under DTH a small Dish and a Digicomp is installed at the customer premises. The dish receives encoded tv signal from the satellite and these encoded signal are passed on to the digicomp which decodes these signal so that u can watch them on your television.Tatasky provides features like Child lock, Guide, Reminder Service, Helpdesk Channel, Multiple Language option etc.
INSTALLATION
Just buy the Digicom from any of the dealer and call the Tata Sky toll-free helpline number and schedule an installation. Generally the install takes around 2 days(as in my case), but some people complain that their installation took around 1-2 weeks(maybe becuase of sudden rush due to implementation of CAS).
Cost for 1st TV
Cost of Digicomp -> Rs. 2999
Installation+ installation warranty+ activation charges -> Rs. 1000
Subscription Fee(to be paid monthly) -> Rs. 300
Cost for 2nd, 3rd and 4th TV(price given below is for each additional TV)
Cost of Digicomp -> Rs. 2999
Installation+ installation warranty+ activation charges -> Rs. 500
Subscription Fee(to be paid monthly) -> Rs. 100
Therefore the initial installation cost involved for 2nd, 3rd & 4th TV is Rs. 7500, Rs. 11000 & Rs. 14500 respectively, which is quiet high.
PICTURE AND SOUND QUALITY
*Picture & Sound quality is awesome and can’t be compared to what we get through cablewala. One of the main reson for this(better quality) is that we are receiving the channels directly and no middleman is involved. Thats why Tatasky has DVD quality picture and CD quality sound.
INTERACTIVE SERVICES
Tata Sky offers 6 new-age interactive services:
Actve Newsroom - allows you to watch four English news channels(NDTV 24x7, Headlines
Today, Times Now and CNN IBN) on one screen, enabling you to get a
complete perspective on any breaking ground story.
Actve Khabar - allows you to watch four Hindi news channels(DD News, Aaj Tak, NDTV India and STAR News) on one screen, enabling you to get a
complete perspective on any breaking ground story
Actve STAR News - *is a new-age interactive service which puts you in control of how and
when you want to watch news. The service presents you with four screens
on a single window, enabling you to go directly to Current News,
Headlines, Top Stories or Features.
Actve Games - *is a range of interactive games for all ages. These games can be played
on your TV with the help of the Tata Sky remote. The games are
refreshed periodically.
Actve Sports - you can watch a cricket match with exclusive features like multiple
camera angles, choice of commentary language, highlights on-demand and
player statistics all at the press of a button.
Actve Wizkids - *is a first-of-its-kind educational, television based service in the
world which aims at continuing a child’s learning process at home
through educational, yet entertaining games. The games cover the
English language, Mathematics and General Knowledge. The games are
refreshed regularly, so that a child never gets bored.
Didn’t uses these services, just had a look at them when Tatasky was installed. So I can’t comment about them.
*SHOWCASE
*Is a pay-per-view movies service through which you can order the latest
blockbuster movies from the comfort of your home. The movies are
screened in original prints, with a single ad-break.
The cost of each movie is Rs. 75.
I think the cost is not justified because the movie they show on Showcase has either been shown(like Aksar, Zinda etc) on Television on either of the channels like Sony, Star Plus etc or is about to be shown(like Krrish, Don etc). So I don’t understand why one should pay Rs. 75 for it. Also I don’t understand why we can watch the movie only for a day instead for the whole week for which the movie is been shown.
I think to improve there Showcase service they should have different price for different movies and they should enter into contract with movie makers so that the movie which they show on Showcase should not be available on regular channels like Sony, Star Plus etc for a year or atleast 6 months so that the subscriber of Showcase can get the worth of the money he paid .
*SUMMARY OF REVIEW
ADVANTAGES
*1. Can be installed anywhere even in remotest areas where cable TV is not available.
DVD quality picture & CD Quality Sound.
Load of interactive services.
Pay per view option for movies.
Have features like Child lock, Guide, Reminder Service, Helpdesk Channel, Multiple Language option etc.
DISADVANTAGES
*1. High Installation cost for those having more than 1 TV.
Quality get slightly affected in bad weather.
Right now doesnot provide the option of choosing channels, therefore one has to take the complete package which include all the channels that Tatasky provides.
The cost of movie shown on Showcase is not justified because those movies have either been shown or about to be shown on regular channels like Star Plus, Sony etc.*
Source - Tatasky Website and my own opinion.