Indiantelevision.com Team

(15 February 2008 11:50 am)

MUMBAI: While direct-to-home (DTH) technology revolutionised television viewers by empowering them with choice, control and convenience through a wide range of programming and interactive features, TataSky redefined DTH as satellite television service (STS), thereby becoming a one-stop shop for all the television entertainment needs of Indian customers.

This was the case study that TataSky presented at the Buzz Power - The Conference 2008 organised by agencyfaqs!

When TataSky decided to launch its DTH services, despite an already existing player, DishTV, a big task was to educate the consumer and build a buzz around the new service. According to TAM statistics, in June 2006, awareness about DTH was less than 35 per cent. Today, 16 months later, it commands a share of 91 per cent in brand recall and boasts of a million customers.

Thus, with an aim to connect to all television viewers and create interactivity amongst its audience, and dispel the fear that technological fuss creates in the mind of the layman, TataSky redefined the language of technology.

To this end, Tata Sky adopted its current tagline "Isko laga daala, toh life jingalala!" that has earned it 15 million subscribers.

The primary approach with which the company started was "breaking away from the pack." This it achieved by not just creating buzz through advertisements, but also its services.

It undertook the most interactive step by walking into schools directly and convincing teachers that children could learn multiplications and divisions directly from TV.

TataSky did not send dealers but visited the schools individually giving demonstrations and today it prides itself on saying that almost all the famous schools in this country have subscribed to TataSky.

"It's the only TV service in this country which not only provides entertainment to kids through toon channels but also educates them through its interactive channels. We are the only TV service who have convinced the teachers that TV is not bad for children but good for them," states Tata Sky chief marketing officer Vikram Mehra.

People who visit homes to install TataSky are trained engineers from the company. These dedicated professionals are always uniformed and carry company IDs. Technical problems can arise anytime and these engineers are there to solve them. If the problem can't be resolved immediately, the subscriber box is replaced on the spot.

"Three high-end 24x7 call centres, handled by customer care associates trained to answer customer queries in 11 different languages, deal with complaints. The call centres are managed by group company SerWizSol, which has dedicated TataSky teams at its centres in Pune, Hyderabad and Chandigarh," says Mehra.

TataSky has adopted a 360-degree communication approach for its customers through television, print, web, radio, outdoor media, call centres and direct mailers, both in urban and rural areas. It has also made it a point to demonstrate the service at high-traffic sites like airports, malls and exhibitions.

Mehra says, "We deliver only what we promise and we never over-promise to our customers. We would like to be a benchmark for customer service and offer more value-added services to our subscribers."

Realizing that everyone is scared to read the manual, TataSky has provided its subscribers with a 24-hour "subscriber help" channel, explaining the features of the service, and a help desk application that can be easily accessed on the television set itself.

The company has started initiating an all-India customer satisfaction survey where they have been rated high on professionalism and courtesy.

Satellite television is a new category and Tata Sky, a 80:20 JV between the Tata Group and Star TV, has reached the highest peaks literally by installing its services in Ladakh, Leh, and Kargil. It is also the first to do an underwater installation in an oil rig.

Thus, the youngest scion of the Tata Group of Companies launched 16 months ago in August 2006, is ready to completely change the paradigm of television viewing in India.