Tata Play is an Indian subscription-based

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

(DTH) service provider owned by

Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate group of companies headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest business conglomerate, with products and services in over 160 countries, and operations in 100 c ...

. it was using

MPEG-4 MPEG-4 is a group of international standards for the compression of digital audio and visual data, multimedia systems, and file storage formats. It was originally introduced in late 1998 as a group of audio and video coding formats and related ...

digital compression technology, transmitting using INSAT-4A GSAT-10 and GSAT-24 satellites. Incorporated in 2005, it currently offers 690+ channels, 579+ SD channels, 110+ HD channels and 1 UHD channel, along with 50+ other value added services in Standard definition and High definition, free SD+1 and HD+1 services with some channels and many internet based channels. Tata Play is the largest DTH service provider in India. As of March 2023, according to TRAI Tata Play serves 21.3 million subscribers which is 32.65% of total DTH users in India. Tata Play entered into an agreement with French firm

Vantiva Vantiva SA (formerly Technicolor SA, Thomson SARL, Thomson SA, and Thomson Multimedia) is a French multinational corporation that provides technology products and services for the communication, media and entertainment industries. Headquarter ...

to supply 4K set top boxes from early 2015. The company was formerly known as Tata Sky.

History

Tata Sky was a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between the

and

News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...

, which owned 80% and 20% stakes respectively until 2008, when

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

-based

Temasek Holdings Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited ( ) is a Singaporean State ownership, state-owned multinational investment firm. Incorporated on 25 June 1974, Temasek has a net portfolio of US$288 billion (S$389 billion) as of 2024. Headquartered at Orchard ...

picked up a 10% stake in Tata Play from the Tata Group. Tata Sky was incorporated in 2001, but launched services on 8 August 2006. Tata Sky's

Holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

, 21st Century Fox, formerly owned an international group of DTH businesses that include

Sky Italia Sky Italia S.r.l. is an Italian satellite television platform owned by the American media conglomerate Comcast. Sky Italia also broadcasts three national free-to-air television channels: TV8, Cielo, and Sky TG24. Pay TV services on the Sky ...

in Italy and

Sky UK Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), Trade name, trading as Sky, is a British broadcasting, broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone ...

in the United Kingdom. The company uses the Sky brand under a licence from

Sky Group Sky Group Limited is a British media and telecommunications conglomerate owned by Comcast and headquartered in London. It has operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. Sky is Europe's largest media co ...

. Tata Sky partnered with

Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...

to launch the first

Video on Demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

(VOD) services in India in 2012. On 9 January 2015, Tata Sky became the first Indian DTH operator to offer 4K set-top-boxes to its consumers. On 20 March 2019,

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

completed acquisition of

21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., which did business as 21st Century Fox, was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was formed on June 28, 2013, as the legal successor ...

, making them their new 30% stakeholder, replacing 21st Century Fox. On 26 January 2022, Tata Sky changed its name to Tata Play as the company decided to drop the 'Sky' brand name after 18 years. On 4 September 2022, Tata Sons and the Walt Disney Company India finally agreed to launch an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

(IPO) for the company after multiple failed attempts in 2013, 2016 and 2019. It has been reported that Disney may sell 10% of its current 30% share in order to abide by media cross-holding regulations, which limit broadcasters' equity in DTH companies to 20%. However, in December 2022, reports came of Disney completely exiting the company. On 15 February 2024, it was reported that Disney was in talks with

Reliance Industries Reliance Industries Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Its businesses include energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, entertainment, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles. Reliance is the ...

to sell its 30% share in Tata Play. In July 2024, Tata Play has expanded its global business reach by partnering with Akash Digital TV in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Satellites

Tata Play was the second operator to launch DTH or direct-to-home services in 2006. At that time, the company decided to use an

ISRO The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), overseen by the Prime Minister o ...

satellite. In 2005, Tata Play signed a contract with ISRO for provision of satellite space on the INSAT-4A satellite. In 2007, one year after the launch of the DTH player, Tata Play asked for more space to increase the number of channels they telecast. The extra space was promised in 2009 on the GSAT-10 satellite, a then to be launched satellite inducted into the INSAT system. The GSAT-10 (CMS-01) was launched in September 2012, Tata Play has started utilising those transponders in March 2015. The mission of INSAT-4A was over on 21 October 2019. Tata Play is using ISRO's GSAT-30 satellite which is a replacement satellite of INSAT-4A.Tata Play recently leased entire capacity of ISRO's GSAT-24 satellite for additional bandwidt

Tata Play Binge+ Set-Top Box

Tata Play Binge+ Set-Top Box, formerly known as the Tata Sky Binge+ Set-Top Box, was introduced by Tata Play in December 2019. The device offers an integrated environment experience, combining traditional satellite television channels with popular Over-the-top media service, Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming services like

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

and

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. Operating on the Google Android TV platform, it provides access to a variety of apps and games. Additionally, the set-top box supports channels in 4K resolution, enhancing the visual experience for users.

Awards and recognition

In March 2009, Tata Play became the first Indian DTH service provider to be awarded the ISO 27001: 2005 accreditation, the benchmark for information security. ISO 27001:2005 is an international standard that provides specifications and guidance for the establishment and proper maintenance of an Information Security Management System (ISMS).

References

External links