Tata Sky's Response for the Special Channels category

[Hardik7]

Somewhere in January when the HBO Defined and Hits channels were introduced as a special category, I had sent an email to TS. The below are some of the excerpts from the email.

About special channels category, I was not informed at the time when I renewed for Mega Pack HD. In the advantages of the Mega Packs, Tata Sky has mentioned that any new channels introduced on Tata Sky will be available as part of your Mega Pack at no additional cost. Now you have added a condition where special categories channel are not included. As a consumer I sense that this is total cheating.
No matter how many channels you have added but the HD channels which matter are not being made available to Mega Pack HD consumers.
There's another advantage of Mega Packs written down there on your website.
"No hassles of managing additional packages"
Can you tell me how is it relevant now? As you have added several combo packs, annual packs & ala carte for special channels, there's a quite big hassle of managing additional packages. Hence that is still misleading to the customers.
When customer subscribes to the Mega Packs, he pretends that new channels will be added as a part of his plan because of the information provided in your advertisements. If the cost of the premium channels are high then you can also increase the price of pack. Price wise even now there's very thin difference between Grand Sports package & Mega package.
Now exactly what is wrong with your company's roadmap? Why as a consumer I have to repeatedly point out flaws in such policies & decisions? This is going no where.

Then the next day which was January 8, I received a response from Tata Sky.

Additionally, we would also like to inform you "Tata Sky has been consistently finding ways to overcome the capacity constraint, even at huge cost, to ensure that our subscribers get content of their choice, delivered to them in the best possible quality. Since January this year we have added over 60 new channels, SD & HD and will continue to do so in the coming times too. It is possible that some of these new channels may not be of interest to you due to their language or genre. However, you will appreciate that we have to cater to all audiences across age groups and geographies in the country.
Often we come across very rich, high quality content that we know some of our customers would appreciate. However, in some instances this content comes to us outside of the existing commercial deals we have with the broadcasters. Our options are to either not carry this content or to carry it at the lowest possible price we can negotiate with the owners of this content and leave the option of subscription to our customers.
Keeping in mind this opportunity, we thought of creating a Specials category early this year. Our customers who renewed since Feb 13 were informed at the time of renewal and our web sites and other communications also carried information about this.HBO Defined, HBO Hits HD Channels are also part of Specials that we have introduced; in addition to Star World Premiere HD. Our options are to either not carry this content or to carry it at the lowest possible price we can negotiate with the owners of this content and leave the option of subscription to our customers.

HBO Defined and HBO Hits are a High Definition Channel, available only on an a la carte basis @ Rs 90 pm for each channel (HBO Defined: Rs 90 PM and HBO Hits: Rs 90 PM) as part of Specials on Tata SkyCombo HBO pack at Rs 99 PM, Rs 595 Semi annually and Rs 990 Annually;.
You can simply SMS to 56633 from your Tata Sky RMN with the below SMS codes to activate the channels on your account.1. HBO Defined: SMS add hbde to 56633
2. HBO Hits: SMS add hbhi to 566333. Combo HBO Pack:
Monthly- SMS add cohb to 56633
S/A-SMS add cohb180 to 56633
Annual- SMS add cohb365 to 56633
4. LDB Combo HBO Pack:
Annual: cohb365
Semiannual: cohb180

Now let's hear it from other consumers who have subscribed to these Mega packs. What others have to say for the company response?

 

[yashleo21]

As a consumer, I was cheated.BUT considering the really really high price of these channels ( 90 Rs / month 😱 ) there was no way any of these channels could be adjusted in existing subscription. Even if they try to incorporate the special channels in Mega packs, price will hike to such an extent that many might even back off from paying for a year.This explains the Special category.I'm still using TS+ SD box with the Annual Mega Pack. Honestly, I wasn't affected by any of this. No one knew a situation like this could arise at the time all these plans must have been drafted. Although Topper was excluded before too.

 

[Hardik7]

Idea behind the creation of Mega Packs was that any new channels get added and consumers who opt for mega packs doesn't have to deal with the hassles of managing different types of 'add on' packs. Of course the price of the mega pack will increase and they should.
Considering the very thin price gap between [Grand Sports Pack + Annual HD Access Fee] & Mega Pack HD, why aren't they increasing the price of Mega Packs, thus including the premium channels & giving users choice for total entertainment. If so many channels are coming then they should keep a little margin there to include new ones or again hike the price of the packs from next quarter.
I think that 'ease of use' & 'availability of premium content' is what the Mega pack customers are looking for.

 

[SVK]

I personally don't like the idea of Mega Pack. I feel its wastage of money on unwanted channel. At moment I can recharge monthly or recharge enough for 2 months, and when low balance alerts is received, I can recharge again.
Mega Pack is good for corporate customer who dont have to bother recharging every month.
About specials, it is new scenario which all DTH operator are facing due to very high price set by content provider channels. If DTH provider start providing such premium channels at low cost, they will eventually run into loss.
I would suggest them to stop using word "Mega Pack" and use "Long term Saver" pack like Airtel does 😀

 

[shr]

I am totally ok with the concept of specials especially HBO Defined and HBO Hits do not run ads. It is a wholly new experience to watch movies without ads. For that experience and the content they provide, the pricing of the channel is ok.
TS has been favorable to clients who write to them on Specials. As a biennial megapack customer, they readily offered me the specials free of cost till my subscription is due for renewal. The entire process perhaps took 30 mins from the time i wrote the mail, to the time they activated it and called to confirm.
I cannot comment on why they do not add it by default. It is a costly pack and it perhaps made some sense for them to wait for clients to reach out to them. They very well know they will not see the clients go as the specials are only with them and not any other platform. They mentioned about some fine prints added to megapack of late. They were not included when i signed up for my biennial pack.
My initial reaction is to check it out these channels and decide if i will renew later. I am most likely to renew the HBO specials when i am due for renewal in April.
I do know that the channel additions in TS (that was long overdue) has more than compensated for my megapack subscription.

 

[himanshupant]

On a separate note , why would you want to see movies via DTH with stupid self censorship cuts ??I prefer seeing it over the Net where atleast there are no cuts

 

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[shr]

Yes, provided there are legal ways to access online HD movie content. I am not a fan of torrents and such.
I use Apple TV to watch movies referred by friends. That's my online source for movies.

 

[himanshupant]

Does Apple TV provide uncensored content in India ?

 

[shr]

Dunno. I connect to US server that's determined by Apple id status.

 

[himanshupant]

Yes but there are lot of hassles like US credit card so in effect one still has to circumvent the law there

 

[shr]

No. Get a dollar denominated gift card and use that to charge your Apple id.

 

[himanshupant]

Ok was not aware of this work around. But my point is why cant the content providers make it easily accessible and then they blame piracy !!

 

[rdesi99]

I agree with the original post about "Special channels" just cheating Mega Pack customers. If you think about it, the Mega Pack customers are actually the demographics who would want the Star Premium or HBO defined kinda HD channels. So Tata Sky promises that we automatically get enrolled into new HD channels for the rest of the year when they are selling the Mega pack to me, then add 3 measly HD channels that I would actually want to watch in the entire year, then divide those 3 channels into 2 NEW packages and wants me to shell out an extra 160 rs/month despite my being a Mega Pack Cusotmer?
This is absolutely wrong. I had switched to Videocon HD simply to take advantage of better HD channels, but since most of the stuff I watch is pre-recorded, the Videocon software didnt work for me and I was forced to switch back to TS.
So while I I like TS software and DVR facilities, I think they are really pushing the envelope in terms of cost, no appreciation for long term loyal customers and their short sighted money making mindset. I think if enough people complain, the TS management might review this. I for one, might not be so tempted to buy the Mega Pack on my renewal.
-RDesi