Airtel DTH vs Tata Sky

8/7/2019 Airtel DTH vs Tata Sky

1/7

Airtel DTH vs Tata SkyAirtel DTH and Tata Sky DTH are two of the Direct to Home Satellite Television service providers in India. Thoughthey are in the same business they show some important differences between them. Tata Sky was launched in 2006as a joint venture between Tata group and Star, a leading media and entertainment company in Asia. Tata Sky DTHis a pioneer in DTH (direct to home) services with over 160 channels. It is endowed with multiple features.The DTH market in India took a great surge forward with the introduction of the Airtel DTH in the year 2008. The DTHservice of Airtel has a wide network of over 150 channels in about 62 cities of India.

Airtel DTH uses the technology of advanced MPEG-4 whereas Tata Sky uses the technology of MPEG-2. One has tobuy the starter package of Airtel DTH starting from Rs.2500. On the other hand the starter pack of Tata Sky comesfrom Rs.1499 onwards.There are various varieties of Tata Sky packages. These varieties include Tata Sky Super Hit Package, Tata SkySouth Starter Pack, Tata Sky Family Pack, Tata Sky Super Saver Pack, Tata Sky South Value Pack and Tata SouthJumbo Pack.There are several advantages associated with the use of Airtel DTH. Some of the advantages are amazingprofessional installation, installation done using compass, neat looking set top box, fast channel change andaffordability.Some of the advantages associated with the use of Tata Sky include enhanced technology, fast channel change,unique features such as pausing, rewinding. The features of pausing and rewinding are offered only by the Tata SkyCompany. The other advantages of Tata Sky include online recharge facility, reliable customer support and of courseaffordability.Both are characterized by some disadvantages as well. The disadvantages of Airtel DTH include absence of onlinerecharge option and less transponders. Some of the disadvantages of Tata Sky include old looking set top box and

somewhat non professional installation. It is interesting to note that both of them rely on MPEG technology to a greatextent and are successful.

Airtel DTH Tata Sky DTH- launched in 2008 - launched in 2006- over 150 channels - over 160 channels

- MPEG-4 technology - MPEG-2 technology

Advantages: Advantages:

. professional installation . more varieties of packages

. neat looking set top box . enhanced technology

. fast channel change . fast channel change

Disadvantages: . pausing, rewinding possible

. absence of online recharge option . online recharge facility

. less transponders . reliable customer supportDisadvantages:

. old looking set top box

. non professional installation

Tug of war in DTH : Tata Sky takes on AirtelAirtel DTH claims of superior picture quality in its television ad. TataSky has appealed against this to

ASCI (Advertising Standards Council ofIndia). Tata Sky says the ad is misleading. It falsely

suggests that other providers have inferior picture quality.


2/7

According to TataSky, MPEG-4 and DVB S2, compression standards used by Airtel DTH, have no

effect on the picture quality. The DTH service providers use different compression technologies,

from MPEG2 to MPEG4 to provide digital television signals to consumers through satellite. These

techniques determine a service providers number of channels to consumers. They have no impact

on video quality.

ASCI has agreed to review the ad, which seeks to disparage other digitalplatforms. Airtel Digital Television has sent out a reply to ASCI. They claim, they have several

features, which together makes the experience superior to other service providers

Objectives of ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India)

PERTINENT EXTRACTS OFMEMORANDUM AND ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION OFTHE ADVERTISING STANDARDS COUNCIL OF INDIA

Registered in Oct. 1985, u/s 25, as a Not-For-Profit Co., under the Companies Act

1956

The main objects to be pursued by the Company on its incorporation are -

To monitor administer and promote standards of advertising practices in India with a view to ensuring the truthfulness and honesty of representations and claims made throughadvertising and safeguarding against misleading advertising.


3/7

ensuring that Advertising is not offensive to generally accepted norms and standards ofpublic decency.

safeguarding against the indiscriminate use of advertising for the promotion of products orservices which are generally regarded as hazardous to society or to individuals or which areunacceptable to society as a whole.

ensuring that advertisements observe fairness in competition and the canons of generallyaccepted competitive behaviour.

To codify adopt and from time to time modify the code of advertising practices in India andimplement, administer and promote and publicize such a code.

To provide facilities and machinery in the form of one or more Consumer Complaints Councilshaving such composition and with such powers as may be prescribed from time to time toexamine complaints against advertisements in terms of the Code of Advertising practices andreport thereon.

To give wide publicity to the Code and seek adherence to it of as many as possible of thoseengaged in advertising.

To print and publish pamphlets, leaflets, circulars or other literature or material, that may beconsidered desirable for the promotion of or carrying out of the objects of the Company anddisseminate it through any medium of communication.

Consumer Complaints Council

The Board of Governors shall appoint Consumer Complaints Council (CCC), the number of

members of which shall not be more than twenty one.

The Consumer Complaints Council shall examine and investigate the complaints received fromthe consumers and the general public, including the members of the Company, regarding any

breach of the Code of Conduct and/or advertising ethics and recommend the action to be takenin that regards.

Power Of The Consumer Complaints Council

Each Council shall be entitled to receive complaints from the Board of Governors, theConsumers, the general public and members of the Company.

Each Council shall enquire, investigate and decide upon the complaints received by it within theframe work of the Code of Conduct adopted by the Company.

All the decisions of each Council shall be by simple majority, in writing and may specify theaction to be taken in respect of the offending advertisement.

Self-Regulation in Advertising

Credible advertisements for enhancing the public's confidence


4/7

ASCI's Mission

ASCI has one overarching goal: to maintain and enhance the public's confidence in

advertising.

ASCI seeks to ensure that advertisements conform to its Code for Self-Regulation whichrequires advertisements to be

Truthful and fair to consumers and competitors.

Within the bounds of generally accepted standards of public decency and propriety.

Not used indiscriminately for the promotion of products, hazardous or harmful tosociety or to individuals particularly minors, to a degree unacceptable to society atlarge.

ASCI propagates its Code and a sense of responsibility for its observance amongstadvertisers, advertising agencies and others connected with the creation ofadvertisements, and the media.

ASCI encourages the public to COMPLAIN (*) against advertisements with which they maybe unhappy for any reason and ensures that each complaint receives a prompt and

objective consideration by an impartial committee Consumer Complaints Council (CCC)which takes into account the view point of the advertiser, and an appropriate decision iscommunicated to all concerned.

ASCI endeavours to achieve compliance with its decisions through reasoned persuasionand the power of public opinion.

Airtel DTH ad misleading; Tata Sky complains ASCI

Press Trust of India / New Delhi January 11, 2010, 13:35 IST

DTH major Tata Sky has approached the Advertising Standards Council of India seeking action against its competitorAirtel Digital's ad campaign, alleging that the advertisement was misleading.

The campaign 'Dil Titli', starring Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan, was launched in August 2009 by Bharti Airtel'sDTH arm and the ad claimed that the service provided superior picture quality because of MPEG4 and DVBS2technologies.

"We are trying to convince the media and the public at large that the claim that MPEG4 technology provides superiorpicture quality is false. It is just a compression technology and makes no difference to the picture quality," Tata SkyChief Marketing Officer Vikram Mehra said.

The ASCI in a reply to Tata Sky's complaint said, "As per their (Consumer Complaints Council - CCC) decision, the

complaint has been upheld as the advertisement contravened Chapter 1.4 of the ASCI code. The CCC concludedthat the advertisement is misleading, as the viewer of the TV commercial is led to believe that Airtel Digital TV hassuperior picture quality because of MPEG4 or DVBS2."

When contacted, Airtel Digital spokesperson said, "We did receive some correspondence from ASCI and we haveresponded to that. Our stand is that MPEG4 and DVBS2 are some of the many features that we offer, that helps usoffer superior picture quality in comparison to ordinary technology."

ASCI is a self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry and deals with consumer and industry complaintsagainst advertisements.


5/7

DTH operators in the country use different compression technologies ranging from MPEG2 to MPEG4 to providedigital television signals to consumers through satellite. Compression technologies determine a service provider'snumber of channels to consumers, but have no impact on video quality.

Airtel Digital, which was launched in October 2008, now has pan-Indian operations.

Tata Sky wins case over Airtel Digital TV

The competition among the half a dozen rival direct-to-home (DTH) operators in the country

has once again spilled over to the advertising arena. The Advertising Standards Council of India

(Asci) has upheld a complaint by Tata Sky against rival AirtelDigital TV for misleading the

consumers in its Dil Titli television campaign featuring Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor.

In its complaint to Asci made in November 2009, Tata Sky had called the campaign misleading

for suggesting that the picture quality of Airtel Digital TV was superior as it used the MPEG4 and

DVB-S2 technology. The Asci, in its final hearing last week, upheld the Tata Sky complaint andmay soon ask Airtel to either modify or withdraw the campaign, sources in Asci said.

The Asci is the apex self-regulation body of the advertising industry. It deals with the complaints

received from consumers and industry against advertisements that are considered as false,

misleading, indecent, illegal, leading to unsafe practices, or unfair to competition.

In 2008, Tata Sky had dragged its rival Dish TV before the fair trade regulator Monopolies and

Restrictive Trade Practices Commission terming the Dish TV advertisement offering free set-

top boxes as misleading and deceptive.

Tata Sky and Dish TV, the top two private DTH operators in the market, use MPEG2 technology

while the remaining DTH operators, including Sun Direct, Digital TV, Big TV and D2H,

useMPEG4 technology.

In its complaint to Asci on the Airtel Digital TV advertisementissue, Tata Sky said that

while MPEG4 was a video compression standard and DVB-S2 was a satellite transmission

standard, both these specifications had no relationship with video quality. MPEG4 is a video

compression technology that helps in packing more channels within a given bandwidth. This hasno relation with the picture quality, and it has been scientifically proven. This is what we have

told Asci. We are not there to stop anyone from advertising, we just want the right message to

go to the consumers, said Vikram Mehra, CMO, Tata Sky. When contacted,Airtel Digital TV CEO

Ajay Puri said: We did receive a communication from Asci asking us to explain

the MPEG4technology. We have not received any notice from them to withdraw the campaign

yet. MPEG4 is a proven better compression technology and that is what we have said in our


6/7

communications to the consumers. Our ads are not directed against anybody, he said. Industry

sources, however, said that since the DTH market had been extremely competitive, such ad

campaigns may affect the consumers decision to opt for one DTH operator over another.

Currently, between the six DTH players, an average of around 18,000-20,000 DTH connections

are being sold each day with Airtel Digital TV alone selling over 7,000 connections, higher thansome of its rivals.

We are selling 200,000 DTH connections each month, confirmed Puri. Tata Sky, which is now

the third-largest DTH operator behind Dish TV and Sun Direct, is adding over 100,000

subscribers per month. Till November 2009, our subscriber base stood at 4.5 million on a

monthly basis, we have been selling far more than 100,000 subscribers, Mehra ofTata Sky

said.

laws

According to me: you can claim under Medical RemediesAct.

And I add something here to bust the matter.

1. False representation- Whoever being legally bound by an express provision of law to state the

truth, or being bound by law to make a declaration upon any subject, makes any statement which his

false, and which he either knows or believes to be false to does not believe to be true, is amounts to

criminal offence and against the public justice.

2. Misleading advertisement Any misleading advertisement and confusing the public by advertising

unfair ad. The ad which against the codes and norms of ASCI. The said ad would lead to

misunderstanding or incorrect decisions.3. Illegal and dishonest: misleading advertisement is dishonest intention, to illegal advantage in the

trade business. The ad is nothing but brainwash the customer and tempting to use their products,

which is illegal and against the natural justice of law.

4. Leading to unfair trade practice or unfair competition:- Under the Monopolies And Restrictive Trade

Practices Act,1969 (MRTP, Act) now it is merges with Competition Act, 2002. Section 36 A of this Act

prohibits making any statement, whether orally or writing or by visible representation which falsely

represents that the goods are of a particular standard, quality and makes a false or misleading

representation concerning the need for, or services. Further gives to the public any warranty or

Guarantee of the performance, efficacy or length of life of a product or of any goods that is not is not

based on an adequate or proper test thereof.

5. Misleading advisement used unfair methods to make ad and create a mistaken belief that their

goods or products are superior to those of other enterprises, the said methods sufficient to show thatthey mislead the general or relevant public.

6. The conduct of the companies is harm, cause and loss to the customer.

7. The ad is dishonest trade practice and claims made through advertising is misleading to the public.

8. Under section 2 (1) (r) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 is open to file complaint against the

such misleading advertisement for unfair trade practice.

9. The advertisement should be within the bounds of generally accepted standards of public decency

and propriety.

10. The Honble Supreme Court in the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act,


7/7

Airtel DTH vs Tata Sky

Documents

Transcript of Airtel DTH vs Tata Sky