INTRODUCTION

It was started in 2004; Tata sky is the joint venture between Tata group and star group in ratio of 80:20. It currently offers close to 205 channels in Indian viewers a world class television viewing experience through its satellite television service.

The Tata group is one of India’s largest and most respected business companies.

It includes diversified businesses in sectors such as material, engineering, service, energy, information system and communication, consumer products and chemicals. With over 5 million connections i a very short period, Tata sky has emerged as the faster growing direct to home (DTH) platform across globe.

Tata sky offers so much more for everyone in the family to enjoy. Such as:

Over 190 TV channels and services in DVD quality. 4 day listing of all programmes on T.V. (in English and Hindi). Educational programmes started for children of all age groups. Religious programmes showing live telecasts from temples. 24x7 call centres and over 3000 engineers for assistance. All favourite channels on single equipment.

CURRENT SITUATION

Tata sky crossed the 2 million connections in a period of 20 months, thus retaining its position of fastest growing DTH provider.

Tata sky began with a marketing budget of 15% of sales. Currently film star Aamir Khan is its brand ambassador. Tie-ups with ITC E-Chaupal and Godrej Aadhar gave it wider rural reach. For its distribution, Tata sky has tie-ups with ITC international business

division. Tie-ups with 24x7 guru.com to provide content for active learning. Tata sky has adopted a 360 degree marketing campaign approach that

encapsulates TV, print, radio along with on- ground activities and marketing on the digital ground.

Tata Sky, the joint venture DTH Company between Tata Group and Star, has already launched its PVR service.

The Boston Consulting Group Box ("BCG Box")

As per BCG matrix, Tata sky product lies in STARS category because it is having high market share and high market growth.

COMPETATIVE SITUATION

Direct -to-home

The anticipated growth to the effort of dth industry players who are all trying to attract the customers by cutting down prices as well as offers. They have started to offer a no. Of value added services such as “movie-on-demand”, live recording of tv content, matrimonial matchmaking, etc. Dth is still a relatively new category and people are hesitated to purchase such products, therefore the companies such as Tata sky, dish tv, reliance big tv, etc. Are making more effort to make aware the advantage of the service and create an urg to invest in it.

Major Players:

Within the rural markets, it is Dish TV DTH service that has the most penetration. Tata Sky, Dish TV and Sun Direct DTH services are preferred brands in top metros. The southern market is dominated by Sun Direct DTH services, while in high-income households (monthly income above Rs 50,000), Tata Sky is the dominant DTH brand, while the new entrants are BIG TV, Airtel DTH & Videocon D2H.

But if we take into consideration the number of subscriber that each Direct to home companies claims to have, then the current big players in DTH industry would be as follows: Company Subscribers

(in millions)(till sep 09)

Revunue(in RS cr) (FY09)

Launched In Distance from Ebitdabreakeven

Dish Tv 5.92 737 Oct ‘03 Q1-2010

Tata Sky 4.5 800 Aug ‘06 NA

Sun Direct 4.3 NA Dec ‘07 2.2 mn subs later

Airtel DTH 2 NA Oct ‘08 NA

Big TV 2 NA Aug ‘08 2010

Videocon NA NA May ‘09 NA

Industry competitors: Segment rivalryPresently as on 2010, these are the main DTH service providers in India: DD Direct – state owned free service provider Dish TV - owned by Essel Group, was the first commercial DTH service provider. TATA Sky – owned by TATA group, largest DTH service provider presently in India.

Sun Direct – owned by Sun group, primary focus is on low income groups and regional viewers. Reliance Big TV - Owned by Reliance group, new entrant into the market. Airtel Digital TV – Owned by Bharti group, new entrant with aggressive marketing strategies. Videocon D2H – Owned by Videocon group, new entrant into the market.

With 7 operational players, the segment rivalry is quite high. The competition from state owned DD-Direct to private players is negligible from the content point of view as the number of channels offered by DD-Direct is very limited. However, DD-Direct does not charge any monthly subscription fee which poses a threat to the private players. Between Dish TV and Tata Sky there is an intense rivalry exhibited by price wars and discount schemes offered to new connections. Being the first mover, Dish TV has price advantage in both the STB as well as procuring the transponders. On the other hand, Tata Sky claims its STB having superior DVD quality video. There is also a competition at acquiring the content.

Competitors Analysis:

Competitors

Product Customer Awareness

Pricing Product Availability

Promotion

Place

Dish TV E (excellent)

E VG VG E E

Tata Sky VG(very good)

E VG VG E E

Sun Direct E G (good) E VG VG G

Airtel DTH VG VG A (average)

VG VG E

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths:1. Brand name of Tata group.2. Technological expertise with Newscorp’s DTH arm sky.3. Superior picture quality.4. Leads in introducing new packages & services.5. After sales services.6. Innovative product offering Tata sky plus. 7. Interactive channel & program guides.8. Rural penetration through ITC E-Choupal & Godrej Aadhar.

Weakness:

1. Second mover after DISH TV who captured market share.2. Dependency on broadcaster & had issues with sun TV.

3. Weak distribution channel.4. Lack of service centres.

Opportunities:

1. Larger disposable incomes with India.2. Tapping niche market with better services & product

offering.3. Expansion in distribution network.4. Increase in geographical areas with rural market

untapped.5. Growing demand for quality of service in the form of DTH

over cable.

Threats:

1. IPTV provides superior technology if implemented.2. Government intervention & policies.3. Increasing competition internally.4. Dependency on broadcasters for their channel content and

thus increasing cost.5. High dependence for transponders on ISRO.

Targeting:

Tata sky limited is targeting 8 million subscribers by 2012. More emphasis on adding more value-added services. Investment of Rs. 20 billion as it plans to ramp up its DTH subscribers

over the next 5-7 years. Increasing the distribution channel up to 300.

Segmentation:

Initially Tata sky targeted rich class category but later they focused on middle class also.

Targeting rural market also by joining with ITC E-Choupal & Godrej Aadhar.

It is heavily demanded in metropolitan cities.

MARKETING STRATEGIES

4 P’S OF MARKETING

PRODUCT: Tata sky plus +

Tata sky + is the first digital video recorder to have launched in India. the expertise and superiority of the world class BSkyB Technology has been at the core of cutting edge services provided by Tata sky +.Tata sky + was also the first DTH services provide to give the power to pause, record & rewind live TV and now with true video on demand, dual access remote recording and auto standby.

Extra on TV viewing

1. DVD Quality Picture & Sound Enjoy over 190 TV channels and services in DVD quality picture and CD quality sound.

2. Customer Service 24x7 help. Support in 11 languages.

3. Guide

Get a 4-day listing of all programmes on Tata Sky DTH in English and Hindi. You can also set reminders for your favourite programmes.

4. Parental Control Regulate what your children watch on your television by locking movies based on the ratings provided by the channel or by locking the entire channel.

5. Search & Scan Banner

Find out what’s playing on another channel without changing the channel you are watching.

More reasons:Choose from a variety of channel packages and pay only for what you want to watch. Keeping in mind our diverse audience, we also offer a range of regional content.

Few examples-

Annual Mega Pack (Annually at Rs 5,500 per annum: 186 channels* + 12 Showcase movies)(Semi-Annually at Rs 3,000 for 6 months: 186 channels* + 6 Showcase movies)

The Mega Pack offers all the channels* and services on Tata Sky ! (*except Topper) The channels available on the Mega Pack include the channels available on South Jumbo Pack + Fun Learning Pack + Lifestyle Gold Pack + Cosmo Pack + Sports Gold Pack + Sports Platinum Pack + Marathi Pack + HD Gold Pack + All a la carte channels except Topper & the added benefit of free Showcase Movies! The Mega Pack offers convenience at its best

Popular packages

Super Hit Pack ( 68 channels* ) Subscription price

Aakaash Aastha DD Bharati DD Gyan DD News DD Punjabi

Bangla Darshan

DD Rajyasabha DD Sports DD Urdu DD1

DD10 Sahyadri (Marathi)

DD11 Gujarati

DD12 Kashmiri

DD13 North East

DD6 Oriya DD7 Bangla DD Podhigai ETV Bangla

ETV Bihar ETV Gujarati ETV Marathi ETV Oriya ETV Rajasthan ETV Urdu

ETV Uttar Pradesh / Uttarakhand

FTV Hungama TV Disney Channel

Loksabha TV Set Max

MH1 Mi Marathi NDTV India NE Television

Nepal One News 24

PTC News PTC Punjabi SAB SanskarSony Entertainment TV

STAR Ananda

STAR Gold STAR Majha STAR News STAR One STAR Plus STAR Utsav

STAR JalsaSTAR Pravah 9XM

Mahua OTV News Live

IBN 7IBN Lokmat

Colors Sahara One FilmySony Aath

TV9 GujaratiIndia TV

DD SaptagiriSangeet Bangla

STAR CJ ALIVE

Actve GamesActve Doordarshan Actve Mall

Tata sky HDTata sky HD with new features like picture quality, incredibly vivid colours, sharper image and stunning surround sound, this new service will give you a breath-taking entertainment experience right at your home. Tata sky HD gives you better TV viewing experience with an aspect ratio of 16:9 and 1080i resolution, which means you get to see a lot more of what you like watching.

WHAT CAN I WATCHWith the Tata Sky HD Gold pack, you will get an access to a range of HD content with channels like National Geographic HD and Discovery HD World. You can also watch your favourite blockbusters in High definition on Showcase. That's not all, live and exclusive events like FIFA World Cup and Wimbledon will be available in HD from time to time.

The HD Gold Pack is available at a subscription price of Rs 30 per month. Watch this space for more HD channels such as Star plus HD, Star Movies HD and other popular sports channels that'll be added to the HD Gold pack soon

Conclusion – Ansoff Matrix

Market penetrationTata sky can penetrate the market by:-

1. Proving competitively priced services.2. Innovative and superior technology.3. Interactive services.4. Customer services.

Market development

Tata sky can enter new markets by entering:-

1. Rural markets.2. Entering new cities.3. Entering travel area- tie-ups with travel agencies.

Product development

The product can be further developed with evolving time:-

1. Combined with TV.2. Combined dish for multiple television.3. Target at educational needs in rural areas.

PLACE:

PROMOTION:The promotional strategies suggested are-

1. Packages for special events like the cricket world cup.2. Targeting Tata employees could be a useful way for promoting

the product.3. Give the option of instalments & other promotional schemes to

the new users.4. Tie up with real estate developers to target the new

constructions.5. Door to door marketing should be used for creating awareness of

the product.6. Local games sponsorships can also be used for increasing

awareness.

PRICE: Competition has increased may fold with completion providing freebies and slashing prices. For which following pricing strategies can be adopted, which may lead to a short term loss but a medium term break even and profit:-

1. Free set top boxes – as related with rival products like dish tv, set top boxes can be given free for limited time duration, thus inducing update to next level.

2. Multiple connections – provide discounts for consumers.3. Encourage reference – providing discounts on monthly charges if

reference from existing consumer becomes a new consumer.4. Regional disparity – provide free regional channels in local areas

to ensure switch from Cable TV to DTH services.5. Community dish – incentives in the form of free month charges

for first 2-3 months or reduce installation charges.6. Payment options – starting multiple payment options like

telephonic, online payment, credit card or prepaid card from retail shops, cheque drop box in outlets.