Tata Sky has trumped the DTH market in the last few days by becoming the top most DTH operator in the country by subscriber base and the subscriber market share. The DTH company raced ahead of the now second-ranking DTH operator, Dish TV and became the top DTH operator. There are many factors which led to the rise of Tata Sky as the most preferred DTH operator in the country, and we have looked at them in-depth in the past. However, there is one front where Tata Sky is still lagging, and that is the presence of a Hybrid Set-Top Box. With the increase in the OTT apps adaption, the DTH operators are rolling out their own Hybrid Set-Top Boxes. Airtel Digital TV and Dish TV have already joined this bandwagon, but surprisingly, Tata Sky still remains left out of this league. But why is that? Read ahead to know.
Dish TV Launches New Hybrid Set-Top Box
What’s interesting to note is that the biggest competitor in the market right now for Tata Sky is Dish TV and very recently, Dish TV has launched its own new Hybrid Set-Top Box. With this move, it seems that Dish TV is very adamant on holding on to its subscriber base and retaining its customers. Until now, Dish TV had a not so convenient solution for its subscribers who wanted to access OTT applications on their TV screens. Dish TV was offering the DishSMRT Stick to its customers, which was a dongle based solution and did not offer a lot of OTT app options to the subscribers. Also, it did not come with the many features which the Hybrid Set-Top Box offers, the major one being the amalgamation of the satellite TV channels and the OTT apps.
However, the case is a little different for Tata Sky, although Tata Sky has not yet introduced a Hybrid Set-Top Box, it has a much better defence against the competition which will act as a moat for its subscribers who want to access the OTT apps with their Tata Sky connection. The competitive advantage that Tata Sky has over other DTH operators is the Tata Sky Binge Service.
Tata Sky Has Tata Sky Binge Working in Its Favour
Although Tata Sky Binge does not depend on any kind of Set-Top Box, it gets the subscribers an Amazon Fire TV Stick which gets the OTT applications to the users on their TV screens. Not only this, but the Tata Sky Binge has another advantage to its name which other Hybrid Set-Top Boxes do not offer, which is in the form of complimentary subscriptions. Along with Tata Sky Binge service which is available for only Rs 249, the DTH operator bundles many OTT subscriptions which ensures that the subscriber won’t have to pay extra for them which sadly won’t be the case when the users get a Hybrid Set-Top Box. The Tata Sky Binge users would be able to get a complimentary Hotstar subscription, ZEE5 subscription and more. They would also get a complimentary Amazon Prime subscription for three months as well.
So, Is Tata Sky Really Late to the Party?
So, when the question comes to whether or not Tata Sky is left out in the league of operators who have rolled out a Hybrid Set-Top Box, the answer would be yes, but there is a well thought of reason behind it, and that is simply that Tata Sky has an offering in its portfolio which the users can opt for any time, if they want to watch OTT applications. Not only this, but this offering will get the subscribers tons of benefits which makes a separate Hybrid Set-Top Box for the subscribers, quite redundant.
