Tata Sky, India’s leading direct to home (DTH) service provider, has announced the made in India set top boxes (STBs) are now rolling out in the market. This comes a few months after Tata Sky had announced plans for manufacturing STBs for its DTH service in India itself, as a push for the Government of India’s Make In India initiative. These STBs for Tata Sky are manufactured by Technicolor Connected Home and they have partnered with the Chennai based Flextronics for manufacturing. Tata Sky is competing with Airtel, Dishtv and the Dishtv owned d2h, in the DTH space in India. Tata Sky has a strong line-up of STBs in India, including the Tata Sky HD box, Tata Sky 4K, Tata Sky+ HD and the Android TV powered Tata Sky Binge+ that also bundles access to Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon Prime and more OTT services.
Tata Sky insists that the STBs manufactured in India will match all quality standards as before, and will help in improving the availability of options for new and existing Tata Sky customers. “The India-made set-top boxes will help generate employment while reducing lead time. The boxes have been tested and re-tested beyond the factory floor for quality assurance, and we hope this endeavor will help us to serve the Indian consumers even better,” says Harit Nagpal, MD & CEO of Tata Sky. At this time, the Tata Sky HD STB is priced at Rs 1,499 for a new connection, while the popular Tata Sky Binge+ box costs Rs 2,499.
Tata Sky’s STBs that are now Made in India started rolling off the production lines at the factory in Chennai, with Technicolor Connected Home and Flextronics developing and manufacturing these, in June this year. This will also help Tata Sky reduce the cost of ownership with localized manufacturing reducing overhead costs as well. Whether we see a reduction in the cost of STBs for new customers and for existing customers upgrading from an older STB, remains to be seen. It was in August last year when Tata Sky had announced plans for manufacturing STB hardware in India.
“The disruptions brought about by COVID-19 have illustrated the importance of having manufacturing and distribution operations that are as close to the subscriber base as possible,” says Luis Martinez-Amago, President of Technicolor Connected Home. He adds, “oday’s news marks the accomplishment of objectives outlined in August of 2020, in which Tata Sky and Technicolor Connected Home committed to shifting the production and distribution of STBs – including Android TV-based Tata Sky Binge+ set-top box – within India.” Tata Sky expects the first batch that is now released in the market will be followed through with a long-standing partnership between Tata Sky and Technicolor Connected Home.
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