 "Tata Sky goes to school")
With direct-to-home television service provider Tata Sky getting serious on the edutainment front, with the launch of a service called Classroom on its network, the company is expecting a 10 per cent surge in its revenue from value added services (VAS).
According to Malay Dikshit, chief communications officer, 25-27 per cent out of a base of 17 million viewers subscribe to VAS offerings. “We expect this to increase by 10 per cent,” he said, adding that 60 per cent of the new growth was from rural and semi-rural areas.
Currently, edutainment is 15 per cent of all VAS services; entertainment is 40 per cent. Another 35 per cent comes from lifestyle offerings.
“The share of edutainment revenue is likely to go up phenomenally, as we are getting serious in the field of education as a service on our network,” said Dikshit.
The Tata Group company recently tied up with another group entity, Tata Classedge, to provide educational content on television to classes V-VIII in mathematics and science.
This VAS service will be available to viewers at Rs 99 a month. The content has been synchronised to school syllabi, which Dikshit feels will draw in more response from students.
Tata Sky will be expanding the scope of its educational offerings over time and might come up with content and materials for competitive examinations in the long run.
The other group company, Tata Classedge, which has developed content for the educational VAS to be aired on Tata Sky, has set a target to reach 10 million students by 2025.
So far, since 2011, it has been able to cover 1.5 mn. It is partnering with schools and teachers in classrooms, as well as providing content online.
The just concluded partnership with Tata Sky will enable it to reach out to 17 mn homes.
Asked about the government's move to introduce interoperability of set-top boxes, Dikshit said Tata Sky welcomed the move, as television viewers will have the choice to either shift over to the best service provider or stick to one. Interoperability would allow viewers to change their television service providers without having to change the set-top box or dish antennae.
