DTH operators in the country are currently trying to provide an option to the users to watch OTT content either from their Set-Top Boxes or standard television sets. Dish TV was the first to launch an OTT stick called DishSMRT Stick last year and Tata Sky joined the league earlier this year with the Tata Sky Binge. D2h, which is also owned by Dish TV India, has recently entered the same league by bringing D2h Magic Stick to the users. D2h Magic Stick is an OTT stick which can be connected to the subscriber’ HD Set-Top Box. On the other hand, Tata Sky Binge is a different service altogether as the subscribers of Tata Sky will get Amazon Fire TV Stick Tata Sky Edition for free by just paying Rs 249 monthly charges.
Firstly, before we talk about the two services, we should get the basic differences out of the way. The Magic Stick which comes from D2h for OTT access is a proper dongle that the subscribers will be able to connect to their TV through the UBS port. The Tata Sky Binge service, on the other hand, is availed through a special edition of the Amazon Fire TV Stick which is actually a Tata Sky edition of the product. This Amazon Fire TV Stick attaches to your TV through the HDMI cable, unlike the Magic Stick which goes into the USB port.
Tata Sky Binge and D2h Magic Stick: Pricing
Now comes the difference between the pricing of these two products. There is the question of upfront payment, and whether or not the subscribers will have to buy anything separately to access the respective service, to which we would say yes for one of the products. The subscribers will have to purchase the Magic Stick by paying Rs 399, which is an introductory price for now. The subscribers won’t have to pay any charges for three months after this. After the completion of this period, the subscribers will have to pay Rs 25 per month to keep accessing the service.
Tata Sky Binge is different in this way, as the subscribers do not have to pay anything upfront and all Tata Sky charges is a monthly charge of Rs 249. In this charge, the subscribers also get the Amazon Fire TV Stick Tata Sky edition. It is worth noting that the Amazon Fire TV Stick in itself costs Rs 3,999. This is the price of non-4K version of Amazon Fire TV Stick and it’s an exclusive edition of Tata Sky Binge. The Amazon Fire TV Stick Tata Sky Edition comes with a separate Tata Sky Binge section.
Tata Sky Binge and D2h Magic Stick: Content
Now comes the question of content curation and the range, in which Tata Sky stands as the clear winner as it provides complimentary access to Hotstar, Eros Now, Hungama Play and Sun NXT services without any additional payment. Recently, Tata Sky partnered with ZEE5 to provide free subscription of the same to Tata Sky Binge users. Tata Sky Binge subscribers can also access ALTBalaji and Netflix by paying for these subscriptions.
On the other hand, the D2h Magic Stick offers Hungama Play, ALTBalaji, ZEE5 and Watcho. D2h subscribers will get free access to Watcho content and it even allows them to watch Live TV of more than 100 channels. However, like Tata Sky, D2h is not providing premium subscriptions of OTT services which is a letdown.
So as you can see, although the Tata Sky Binge service comes with a pricier monthly subscription as compared to D2h, it also offers a wider content range and complimentary subscription as well. This is not true for the D2h Magic Stick.
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