TataSky subscribers face service disruption

TataSky, the Direct-to-Home service operator, has said that 30,000 of its subscribers are facing disruption in services due to technology upgrade.

The company said that it is upgrading its compression technology and added that services will be back to normal in two days’ time. Around 17,000 subscribers of TataSky had complained of service disruptions on 11 March as well.

“About 25,000 to 30,000 customers out of our 1 crore plus base have experienced the disturbance. It would be sorted out in the next two days. We are working on it continuously,” TataSky CEO Harit Nagpal told PTI.

Nagpal said that the operator has informed subscribers of potential disruption in services due to the technology upgrade. ‘We have been running scrolls for the last 10 days informing subscribers about the possible signal problems and from last three days we are also running films on that,” he added, reports Business Today.

In related news, TataSky recently improved compression standards and has shifted to upgraded MPEG 4 format. The operator also announced that it will be adding 20 channels. Tata Sky currently offers 300 channels to its 10 million-strong subscriber base in India. The operator is a joint venture between Tata Sons and 21st Century Fox and was incorporated in 2001. It partners with Thomson, Humax, Huawei and Pace for STBs and with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for IT operations. In January 2015, the operator introduced  4K set top box (STB) in India.

TataSky subscribers face service disruption

TataSky, the Direct-to-Home service operator, has said that 30,000 of its subscribers are facing disruption in services due to technology upgrade.

The company said that it is upgrading its compression technology and added that services will be back to normal in two days’ time. Around 17,000 subscribers of TataSky had complained of service disruptions on 11 March as well.

“About 25,000 to 30,000 customers out of our 1 crore plus base have experienced the disturbance. It would be sorted out in the next two days. We are working on it continuously,” TataSky CEO Harit Nagpal told PTI.

Nagpal said that the operator has informed subscribers of potential disruption in services due to the technology upgrade. ‘We have been running scrolls for the last 10 days informing subscribers about the possible signal problems and from last three days we are also running films on that,” he added, reports Business Today.

In related news, TataSky recently improved compression standards and has shifted to upgraded MPEG 4 format. The operator also announced that it will be adding 20 channels. Tata Sky currently offers 300 channels to its 10 million-strong subscriber base in India. The operator is a joint venture between Tata Sons and 21st Century Fox and was incorporated in 2001. It partners with Thomson, Humax, Huawei and Pace for STBs and with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for IT operations. In January 2015, the operator introduced  4K set top box (STB) in India.

Tata Sky launches 4k STBs

India’s DTH operator Tata Sky has announced the launch of India’s first UltraHD/4K set-top box.

Customer orders for the 4K STBs are open and they are available at Rs 6,400 (EUR87) for new customers and Rs 5,900 for existing subscribers.

Tata Sky 4K is a new generation set-top box with the capability of delivering ultra high-definition picture quality and Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 surround sound. 4K at 8.3 Megapixels (3840×2160) has approximately four times the pixels as that of 2K (1920×1080) the current HD standard, thus provides greater clarity and more vivid colours on screen for viewers.

The launch of the Tata Sky 4K set-top box in the market has been timed just before the cricket matches. The launch plans were unveiled in July last year when Tata Sky showcased the first ever live FIFA World Cup Quarter final match in 4K.

Tata Sky CEO hails digitisation

Tata Sky managing director and CEO Harit Nagpal, has taken stock of 2013 and has said in a recent interview that digitisation has hugely helped the DTH industry. He has also noted that this form of new regulation is what the television industry had been waiting for all this time.

Nagpal in a recent interview to IndianTelevision.com, noted, “2013 was what we had been waiting for years. It was strange that in a country like India where everything is regulated, there was one full unregulated industry that required government intervention. People developed cold feet when the process of digitisation began but after the first round took place both the industry and government were confident that it has to be and can be done.”

Nagpal further said that Tata Sky is preparing for just as big a year in 2014 as it plans on rolling out a slew of new products and services. He said, “The biggest advantage of DTH is that consumers can choose their pack and pay for it. At Tata Sky, we’ve had a very good year, in terms of total turnover, profits, growth rate, churn, average revenue per user (ARPU) etc. In every aspect, we are leading. The new year will have newer services and technology being introduced.”

Tata Sky to replace 6 million STBs in India

India´s DTH player, Tata Sky will be investing over USD 161 million to upgrade the technology in its current variation of STB and therefore will also replace the six million STBs installed. The upgrade will ensure that the STBs are installed with MPEG 4 compression technology enabling it to beam more channels from the same bandwidth.

Since 2010 Tata Sky has been installing STBs with MPEG 4 compression but there are currently 6 million units that were installed earlier that needed the upgrade. The company has announced that the boxes will be replaced in a span of one year. It is also planning on beaming 100 more standard definition SD channels. Harit Nagpal, Managing Director, Tata Sky said, “We are planning to include a spate of Tamil and Malayalam channels, besides various other language channels. This would enable us to plug the demand-supply gap in Tamil Nadu and Kerala markets in a big way.”

The integrated system-on-a-chip (SoC) device for STBs offered by Broadcom Corporation, a company specialising in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, has been selected to enable Tata Sky´s first MPEG-4 SD STB. Tata Sky is a joint venture between India´s Tata Group and British Sky Broadcasting Group plc and it beams 200 HD channels as well as standard definition channels currently. India has 52.5 million DTH subscribers as on December 2012 of which Tata Sky holds 9.98 million subscribers.