Video streaming service Netflix has forged a strategic partnership with DTH player Tata Sky to enable subscribers of the latter to easily access Netflix.
Netflix has been expanding its presence in Indian homes via the DTH platforms since its direct subscription rate is too slow in a price sensitive market. Amazon Prime has been able to scale up its base leveraging on its initial offer of Rs 499 per year for the Prime members on its shopping site.
Netflix charges a much higher fee and though the kind of content that Netflix has may be much richer and varied, the relevance to the market has also played a part.
Though the complete details of what the Tata Sky subscribers can gain from this Netflix association has not been revealed in its entirety, it will definitely add to the international content that can be accessed by them without having to go in for a separate subscription could be the immediate benefit.
For the record, Netflix already has announced integration of its offering with that of the other 2 major DTH players, Airtel and Videocon d2h. These companies have added the service in their set top boxes and Videocon has even gone on to add a dedicated Netflix button on its remote.
Netflix video streaming service being available on the DTH platform directly helps those customers who have still not switched to the smart or connected TVs which can access the contents through the internet. Netflix offers television shows, films, documentaries, stand-up comedy series and kid’s titles; the question would be what part of these will be made available as part of the Tata Sky subscription and which ones will need additional payment for access and viewing.
For the DTH subscribers as well, the online streaming services and devices like Chromecast and Amazon Fire sticks are a direct threat and ‘join them if you can’t beat them’ is the approach they might have to adopt.