Tata Sky launches interactive satellite TV

Kolkata, Oct 5: Tata Sky Limited,a joint venture between Tata sons and Star Television, today launched the Tata Sky satellite televion service in 300 cities across Eastern India bringing unprecedented television entertainment to viewers even in the remotest corners of the country.

Only eight weeks since the national launch on August eight,the service has expanded its offering to over 200 popular television channels and eight interactive services.The distribution has also been expanded to 3499 cities during the period.

Claimed to be a forerunner in providing new-age interactive services such as "Active Wizkids",the first of its kind educational service in the world and designed specifically for three to six year old kids,the service aims to enhance a child's classroom education through entertainment,said Tata Sky Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Vikram Kaushik while speaking to UNI on the sidelines of the launch.

He said Tata Sky was also the first to introduce the unique Active Star News service,which allowed the viewer to take control of how and when he wished to watch the news.The service presents the viewer with four screens in a single window allowing him to choose from Current News, Headlines,Top Stories and Special Features at the press of a button.

Similarly, he said,Tata Sky's "Showcase" was a pay-per-view interactive movies service which offered viewers access to the most recently launched Hollywood and Bollywood blockbusters in the comfort of their own homes at a price of Rs 75 for each film.

Tata Sky subscribers could also enjoy popular televion channels from STAR, Sony, Zee, HBO,Cartoon Network, Discovery, Disney, MTV, NDTV, ESPN STAR Sports, National Geographic, Enadu, TV today, Asianet and more in DVD picture quality and CD quality sound at a special introductory offer price of Rs 200 per month,Mr Kaushik said adding subscription to this introductory package would enable subscribers to access all new channels for the next four months at this special price till October 25.

Describing Eastern India as the cultural and intellectual capital of the country and an important market for Tata Sky, Mr Kaushik said "We are focused on providing subscribers in the region with top quality, comprehensive and most importantly, affordable entertainment".

Refering to Tata Sky's distribution set-up he said being a mass service,it was available across the country and had already penetrated 796 towns in eastern India, with over 1,000 dealer outlets across the region.

UNI