Another money making racket - useless channel TRAVEL-ACTIVE added

[hifijay]

It seems DTH operators are now trying to milk users by adding channels which are more for selling their products rather than the main purpose of channels which users want - namely good value entertainment for money.

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Yatra.com launches 'Travel Active' on Dish TV

New Delhi (PTI): Travel portal Yatra.com has partnered with direct-to-home company Dish TV for launching an interactive service 'Travel Active' which will enable Dish TV viewers book holiday packages through their TV sets instead of the internet.

'Travel Active' is a service offering Dish TV viewers a user interface to plan their holidays. Its subscribers would get special deals and additional discounts on every domestic and international flight booked through this service, Yatra.com said in a statement.

"Travel Active service offers huge benefit to over 5.5 million Dish TV subscribers, as they are now enabled to view, search and book the best selling holiday packages and purchase international and domestic airline tickets at discount prices through their TV remote," Dish TV Chief Operating Officer Salil Kapoor said.

"Dish TV's pan-India reach will help Yatra.com extend its services to mass consumers, who are still not familiar or comfortable with internet," Yatra.com Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Dhruv Shringi said.

The Hindu News Update Service

 

[SVK]

But ACTIVE services are optional, and only if we subscribe, then we need to pay orelse there is no need to pay (waste) money on it.If anybody feels that channel can replace ACTIVE, then its not possible as ACTIVE uses remaining space on TP which is in Kbps and cannot be used to broadcast TV channel which needed Mbps bandwidth

 

[hifijay]

SVK ji,/// But ACTIVE services are optional, and only if we subscribe, then we need to pay orelse there is no need to pay (waste) money on it. ////Thanks for this clarification. But, Why should I pay for some one's business promotion, their advertisement and their method to make money? It does not make sense to me.Also, If more such "active" channels are added, then these should cross-subsidize other channels, as DTH providers get free transponder fee for this channel. Then, we should get more channels in basic pack. This is not happening.Overall, the users are given a big cheating.

 

[SVK]

Thanks for this clarification. But, Why should I pay for some one's business promotion, their advertisement and their method to make money? It does not make sense to me.

hifijay ji, that we do for all services & products we use 😀
All the cold-drinks, soap, shampoos, fast-foods, etc products charge (indirectly) to customers for their advertisements/promotions expense. Thats business model which all follow, we can't do much about it.

Also, If more such "active" channels are added, then these should cross-subsidize other channels, as DTH providers get free transponder fee for this channel. Then, we should get more channels in basic pack. This is not happening.

Overall, the users are given a big cheating.
The money we pay for channels, mostly goes to channels without any gain to operator, so how they further subsidize it when they are gaining nothing from it (paid channels). So for operator, ACTIVE Services & Movies-On-Demand (and carriage fee for FTA channels) are major source of income. If we want our operator to go bankrupt & stop operating, we can stop subscribing to these services.

 

[hifijay]

SVKYour logic is strange. It is cleverly made to appear correct but is not so. Please let me clarify./// l the cold-drinks, soap, shampoos, fast-foods, etc products charge (indirectly) to customers for their advertisements/promotions expense. ////The comparison is not correct. Here, the user is asked to pay extra only for this ACTIVE channel. This means, He pays extra only for advertisement. If you buy cold-drink, shampoo etc, How will you feel if they tell you a basic price AND tell you that we should pay extra for some more promotion they want to tell you. Here, the product shampoo is already sold. The price of shampoo already includes the advertisement cost. That is not the case in the separate charge for this ACTIVE channel.You also further said...//// The money we pay for channels, mostly goes to channels without any gain to operator, so how they further subsidize it when they are gaining nothing from it (paid channels). ////Again not correct. Channels are now a days paid a fixed amount based on slab system. They are not paid based on the per-subscription model. If you want to verify my statement, Please see the latest Zee TV annual report. Further, many new and not-established channels, ACTUALLY PAY DTH PROVIDERS for their carriage-fee. Hence, It is not correct to say that the money we pay for channel goes to channels only. Not correct. DTH guys swallow huge chunk of it.I hope this clarifies.

 

[SVK]

Agreed.

But it is still done worldwide and for many products/services.
For e.g. SKY in UK advertise heavily about its HD service. Now their HD customers may be less then 10% (my guess) of its total customer. So money they use to advertise their HD service is from their 90% customers who don't use HD service.
Or I can say every company promotes it new products using money they earned from existing service/product.

I don't know how can we stop operators using money we paid to use for advertising on product that we don't use. May be somebody expert in finance can help us here.

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Carriage fee for FTA channels I already mentioned.
Regarding who pays whom for paid channels is still a doubt. But going by concept & theory of 'Paid channels', its actually operator pays the channel based on number of customers subscribing that channels. (thats what I understood during court case between Sports channel & DTH operator).

 

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[saurabh_g]

It seems DTH operators are now trying to milk users by adding channels which are more for selling their products rather than the main purpose of channels which users want - namely good value entertainment for money.

====================

Yatra.com launches 'Travel Active' on Dish TV

New Delhi (PTI): Travel portal Yatra.com has partnered with direct-to-home company Dish TV for launching an interactive service 'Travel Active' which will enable Dish TV viewers book holiday packages through their TV sets instead of the internet.

'Travel Active' is a service offering Dish TV viewers a user interface to plan their holidays. Its subscribers would get special deals and additional discounts on every domestic and international flight booked through this service, Yatra.com said in a statement.

\"Travel Active service offers huge benefit to over 5.5 million Dish TV subscribers, as they are now enabled to view, search and book the best selling holiday packages and purchase international and domestic airline tickets at discount prices through their TV remote,\" Dish TV Chief Operating Officer Salil Kapoor said.

\"Dish TV's pan-India reach will help Yatra.com extend its services to mass consumers, who are still not familiar or comfortable with internet,\" Yatra.com Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Dhruv Shringi said.

The Hindu News Update Service

Well all the active services on dishtv are free, so you need not to pay any thing for that , Infact in latest launch "Travel Active" service Dishtv customer will get special discounts as well if they book hotel and flights.

Further only Shaadi Active is paid service and only if you want contact details for bride or grooms. other wise its free you can search for bride and grooms their.

Further Monsterjobs active is also free you can go and search for different jobs in different categories.

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SVK ji,

/// But ACTIVE services are optional, and only if we subscribe, then we need to pay orelse there is no need to pay (waste) money on it. ////

Thanks for this clarification. But, Why should I pay for some one's business promotion, their advertisement and their method to make money? It does not make sense to me.

Also, If more such \"active\" channels are added, then these should cross-subsidize other channels, as DTH providers get free transponder fee for this channel. Then, we should get more channels in basic pack. This is not happening.

Overall, the users are given a big cheating.

But here in Dishtv all the active services are free So you won't need to pay any extra money for these active services. And only Shaadi active is paid that too if you need contact details of the person their. and for that no body is forcing you to pay for that if you don't want contact details then simply you can search for brides and grooms their.

Rest All Active services are free, like ICICI ACTIVE, Bhakti Active, Astro Active, Monsterjobs Active, Travel Active ,news active ,games Active.

 

[hifijay]

//// But here in Dishtv all the active services are free ////

Thanks for correcting me and SRK. It is important that we record correct facts.

However, I feel that DTH guys are actively promoting only ACTIVE channels to milk more money out of hapless users. users are not getting any DIRECT benefit of reduced charge by addition of more and more active channels.

Thank you.

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//// But here in Dishtv all the active services are free ////

Thanks for correcting me and SRK. It is important that we record correct facts.

However, I feel that DTH guys are actively promoting only ACTIVE channels to milk more money out of hapless users. users are not getting any DIRECT benefit of reduced charge by addition of more and more active channels.

Thank you.

This TRAVEL ACTIVE channel remains uselss as you can do the same travel booking through a normal internet portal. Actually, DTH operators are confusing their role of providing entertainment with ACTIVE services. We should all tell them clearly that we are not looking to them for any internet portal services but mainly for good quality more channels.

 

[saurabh_g]

Well yes you do the same booking from the internet as well, but how much is broadband penetration in India and Still in rural and urban areas people do not have internet connection. But Tv penetration is good in India and also this service offer special discount over and above what is their on internet for all Dishtv Subscribers who plan their travel through this and book Hotel and flight tickets.

 

[hifijay]

//// But Tv penetration is good in India and also this service offer special discount over and above what is their on internet for all Dishtv Subscribers ////How many persons will be interested in travel booking, hotel booking, flight arrangements etc over ACTIVE channel, but will not have Internet connection. Answer : ZERO.Also, If you are in rural area or do not have internet connection, Please DO NOT BOOK OR USE these travel services through these active channels. THERE ARE FAR TOO MANY CHANCES of problems in these bookings. If you are not having a booking, Then no one will own up your booking and the hotel, the airline everyone will ask you to contact only the portal or ACTIVE channel. It is next to impossible to get to speak to live person.Further, these gimmicks of "special discounts" are phony. They do not exist. I have seen this in makemytrip and other such portals. The rates are costlier than if you directly book through the airline.You get the same discount if you call the hotel or airline directly.Also, cancellations etc are very difficult if not impossible if you use ACTIVE channel.

 

[icycool25]

Well the bottom line is....ACTIVE Services are good as long as they are related to entertainment only, like Games Active, etc. But when it shifts to other genres like Marriage, Travel, Jobs, etc, it makes no sense. There are 101 alternatives for such things. As if people in villages (those who dont have an internet connection) never got married before, or jobs or travelled before Dish TV launched such services.

 

[hifijay]

icycool,//// Well the bottom line is....ACTIVE Services are good as long as they are related to entertainment only, like Games Active, etc. But when it shifts to other genres like Marriage, Travel, Jobs, etc, it makes no sense. ////Exactly. I fully agree with you.Also, a user has to pay EXTRA and actively subscribe for this channel. Who will do this, unless you are a REGULAR user and expect great savings from this. Very surprising. Seems a dead-end move by Tata Sky to get some upfront carriage charge from a hapless portal.