Tata Sky launches Actve Games

With great fanfare, Tata Sky has relaunched its Actve Games service. having tied up with Hungama Game Studio for this. This deal mirrors a previous deal between UTV owned Indiagames and Reliance BIG TV DTH. As per this, the Tata Sky subscribers will be able to subscribe to games on Tata Sky, priced at Rs. 40 per month. The service aims at providing over 50 different games through the year, at least six daily. These include diverse games in fields such as Sports, Action, Adventure, Arcade, Cards, Racing amongst others.

r. Vikram Mehra, Chief Marketing Officer, Tata Sky Ltd. said, “The key hallmark of Tata Sky has been the bouquet of interactive services being offered to our subscribers with Education being a key focus area. These services are no longer just value-added services; they are fast becoming the core business, which is why Tata Sky continues to innovate and build on its core offering of interactivity. With DTH gaining a very strong foothold into the Indian pay-TV market, Gaming could be the next big step after Education.”

“At present, the games offered on most DTH platform are quite basic. As a leader in offering superior technology, Tata Sky is introducing a completely new breed of TV gaming on Actve Games platform. The advantage with Tata Sky’s gaming service is that it is easily accessible, affordable and can be enjoyed by every member of the family with no age bar. This opens up a large market, not only in the larger cities, but also in the Tier II-Tier III cities and small towns.” added Mr. Mehra.

A delighted Yuvraj Singh said, “I am thrilled and excited to have a game designed around me and the real life situations around my cricketing career. To play in real life and on TV is fun and equally engrossing while competing against oneself. It is making me go jingalala playing it on TV at my home with my friends and family members as it is very addictive.” Yuvraj may be out of the test team for India but he can’t be kept out of the gaming scene as one of the games that shall be available on Tata Sky via hungama will be Yuvraj Singh Cricket Championship. Infact, the official launch for the platform was through the Yuvraj Singh Cricket Championship, a game that mimics India’s favorite pastime.

There are plans to deliver over 50 games in the next one year in arcade, strategies, shooting, racing, action and adventure, sports, celebrity and other genres to reach out to the entire family. There are also plans to introduce new games every month to ensure novelty and distinction from the embedded games on television. The campaign is being promoted as “making Tata Sky more MASS” and rightly so, because of the intentions to reach out to the general public who don’t own specialized gaming consoles.

Check out the following link, to know more about Actve Games:

http://www.tatasky.com/actvegames/index.html

Tata Sky silent ad for Rs 999 offer

Silent comedy is very much in vogue now days. The two comedies on SAB TV which take you back to the Charlie Chaplin style comedy have proved extremely popular. Now , Tata Sky has come up with this silent comedy ad for its Rs 999 offer. The premise of the ad is that generally when companies have offers, they are usually associated with many hidden terms and conditions which are revealed to the customer much later. However, in Tata Sky offer, there is no such hidden condition, hence the term “No conditions apply”.

This is the new ad:

LIVE CHAT with Gul Panag on 23rd September via Facebook

Don’t you love those Aamir Khan and Gul Panag ads for Tata Sky? I am sure most of us do. Tata Sky now brings us an opportunity for LIVE CHAT with Gul Panag.

Channel 100 showing the following message:

Now ask questions to Gul Panag via Facebook on 23rd Sept, 2010 at 3 pm about Sports , Movies and some gossip.

This chat will happen on the official page of Actve on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/actve

Tarang TV added on Tata Sky DTH

India’s number one Oriya GEC channel, Tarang TV has been added on Tata Sky. Tarang is very popular among Oriya viewers with its daily soaps, comedy shows, mythological series and other regional entertainment content.

The channel no is 890.

It is available in all base packs:

• Super Hit
• Super Saver
• Super Value
• South Value
• South Jumbo

Tata Sky for only 999!

There is some very good news for new DTH users. Tata Sky has unveiled its new offer, where you can buy Tata Sky for just Rs. 999. And this includes installation worth Rs 1000 which is free. The added advantage is that if you buy the Annual Mega Pack, you also get a 1 year subscription to Business Week mag free. If you combine all the costs, this comes up to savings of almost worth Rs 2479!

In an interview to Hindu Business Line, Mr Vikram Mehra, the Chief Marketing Office of Tata Sky said “The aim is to make the STBs as affordable as possible and drive digitisation. Rural market is a big opportunity and a major portion of our monthly additions are coming from the smaller towns”. “The price of Rs 999, which includes hardware and installation cost, will help add significant numbers to the subscriber base” he added.

This is the link to the interview:

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blnus/02151910.htm

It is a good time to get your Tata Sky connection and make great savings, so hurry!

‘Govt needs to act quickly on licence fee cut’ - Vikram Kaushik, MD & CEO Tata Sky

Following is the interview of Mr Vikram Kaushik, outgoing MD & CEO of Tata Sky, which appeared in the Financial Express recently. In this interview, Mr Kaushik talks about the need for the govt to reduce license fees as well as taxes for the DTH industry. He also shares his perspective regarding the development of DTH industry in coming years

Despite no relief from the government on reduction in licence fees or lowering of taxes, the DTH industry has grown. Do you still seek government support on these issues?

On licence fee, TDSAT has recommended that it should be levied on adjusted gross revenues and not on gross revenues thereby removing the cost of subscription, hardware and taxes already paid. Even the telecom regulator has recommended reduction to 6% instead of existing 10%. With both tribunal and the regulator in agreement that the DTH industry needs urgent relief, we are hopeful that this will now be translated into administrative action by the government quickly. On taxation, the state governments have to give us relief. We have urged the committee handling GST that entertainment tax should be subsumed under the GST as one single tax.

What are the specific supports you seek from the government?

Globally, the governments are spending a lot to subsidise digitalisation. In India, the DTH industry has willy nilly taken on the onus and the cost of promoting digitalisation and addressbility. In return, all we ask is fair treatment. Trai has recommended some incentives for us like tax holiday for companies in the digital distribution sector, rationalisation of the norms for foreign investment and state level taxes. It is critical that the I&B ministry and the finance ministry act on these recommendations without any further delay.

What has been the highlights of your long tenure with Tata Sky?

The most satisfying aspect of my tenure is the fact that Tata Sky is the premier brand in a new category that we created almost from scratch. It was never easy to sell to the Indian consumer the completely novel concept that you need a set-top-box between you and the TV set to open up a completely new world of television viewing. We did this successfully. We are also proud of our unique organisation that has drawn the best from its parents the Tatas, Star and Temasek in terms of values and business practices. We have built a world class DTH platform. I am particularly proud of the team at Tata Sky, many of whom without doubt, will grow into significant business leaders in time to come.

Can India continue to have six or more DTH players in coming years? Is consolidation on the cards?

I believe that consolidation will happen. Since the players here are well entrenched and have deep pockets and king-size egos, it will take a bit longer. I think India can take only three DTH players. After having spent thousands of crores as investment in the last few years, the time has come when the shareholders will begin to ask, how much longer it will take and when shall we get respectable returns?

Is there a magic number at which the DTH operator can start making money?

There is no single magic number. It will depend on the cost structure of a business, its Arpu and the way it manages its churn. The industry is very fast-moving, much faster than the FMCG business! So agility, innovation and the quality of customer service will be important determinants of success.

Source:

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/gov...t/679204/1