Tata Sky Launches Actve Sports

Tata Sky Launches Actve Sports

Bharti Adhikari, Aug 31, 2006 1842 hrs IST

Tata Sky, a newly-launched satellite TV joint venture between Tata and Star, yesterday announced a new interactive sports service; "Actve Sports".

Tata Sky, a newly-launched satellite TV 80:20 joint venture between Tata and Star, yesterday announced a new interactive sports service called "Actve Sports." Tata Sky has tied-up with ESPN Star Sports for this service.

Using this interactive service, the company claims to revolutionize cricket viewing on television in the country. Viewers can experience live matches, highlights, a virtual stadium (3-dimensional graphical representation of the match), simultaneously on the same screen with the click of a button. The service offers the option to switch to different languages for commentary, as also get expert analysis, player statistics, or ball trajectory while the match is on.

Speaking at the launch, Vikram Kaushik, managing director and chief executive officer, Tata Sky, said, "Actve Sports is a new milestone in Indian sports entertainment. For the first time in the history of television in the country, enthusiasts will be able to enjoy interactive cricket through our Actve Sports service."

Adding to it, R C Venkatesh, managing director and chief executive officer, ESPN Software India, said, "We are absolutely delighted to partner with Tata Sky to bring an unique interactive experience of watching live cricket on Actve Sports to millions of cricket fans across-the-country."

Apart from ESPN, Tata Sky is home to other leading broadcasters including Star, Sony, Discovery, Disney, MTV, NDTV, National Geographic, Eenadu, TV Today, and Asianet. The company has also tied-up with Thomson and Humax for the manufacturing of set top boxes.

Besides Actve Sports, Tata Sky offers several other programs and services. An interesting forthcoming service is their "Pay per View", wherein the consumer will be able to book a movie for a particular time with the Tata Sky call centre, and view it free of advertisements at the said time. Going further, Pay per View promises to remind the viewer of his/her favorite program scheduled for a particular time, in the event he/she is watching another channel.

Tata Sky, launched in the beginning of August, with the mantra of "choice, control, and convenience" aims at 1 million connections across-the-country in its first year of operation.

As of now, this DTH service is offering 55 to 60 channels at a monthly subscription of Rs 200, as part of their introductory offer along with a one-time fee of Rs 3,999 for equipment, installation, activation, and set-up. The set top box is covered by a one year comprehensive warranty. The current subscription charges of Rs 200 per month cover all channels that are being provided right now, but once the additional channels come in, there will be new packages launched, and subscription charges will be revised depending on the chosen package.

After the installation of the set top box, the consumer will be provided with a complete demo explaining the various functions and features of the service. To deal with the diversity of languages in the country, and for the sake of convenience of the consumers, the company has set up three 24x7 call centers at Pune, Hyderabad, and Chandigarh, wherein customer care executives will be capable of interacting in atleast 11 Indian languages.

According to the company, Tata Sky is currently available with around 10,000 shops in more than 2000 cities across-the-country, and the company claims that the installation of the service will take no longer than 48 hours from the time of application.