The direct-to-home (DTH) space is likely to witness a price war, with major players like Tata Sky, SunDirect and even Videocon D2H offering value packs at the onset of festive season. Analysts say that at a time when the DTH industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of close to 24%, a ?one size fits all? strategy doesn?t work for long. Hence, DTH players have to design packages suitable for rural consumer, enabling them to enjoy the digital content. Also, the future of the industry will largely depend on innovative marketing tactics adopted by DTH players.

Tata Sky has launched Truchoice in which a customer has a choice of an economy pack which comes under the base price of Rs150, ?Supreme? comes at Rs. 220 and ?Grand? at Rs.330. Sun Direct has gone a step further and launched set box boxes at Rs 890 and also has the lowest basic subscription package at Rs 99 each month. Similarly, the latest entrant in the industry, Videocon D2H, has launched a set top box for Rs 888, as a special offer for the festive season. Customers subscribing to the offer would be getting Videocon D2H set top box and one month of diamond pack worth Rs 292 free.

India has a total television population of close to 135 million, of which 80% have access to cable and satellite. The total DTH subscribers are over 22 million. DTH has a market share of approximately 20%. The subscriber base for DTH is poised to reach 40 million by 2013.

Vikram Mehra, chief marketing officer at Tata Sky, said,?With a slew of new initiatives and, hardware priced at Rs 999, and the once-in-an-year subscription holiday, Tata Sky is redefining television viewing for millions of families across India.? The company which is a joint venture between the Tata Group and Star expects to double its subscriber base by 2012.

An industry aided by growing volumes and reducing hardware costs, DTH players will witness a gradual decline in their subscriber acquisition costs, but any further subsidisation may spoil the consumer habit and may not be good in the long term. ? Any festival offers that we plan is worked out keeping in mind our subscriber acquisition costs. We don?t want to incur any extra costs.? said an industry player.