One of the largest satellite TV providers in India is serving customers Netflix and Prime Video

• Tata Sky will soon launch new set-top boxes with integrated Over The Top (OTT) services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hotstar.
• Tata Sky CEO Harit Nagpal believes the Indian market won’t abandon cable completely if such hybrid devices are made available.
  
• The new set-top box will be in direct competition with Airtel Internet TV.

Tata Sky may soon make Over The Top (OTT) services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hotstar available on your television screens, according to the company’s managing director and chief executive officer Harit Nagpal. In an interview with the Mint, Nagpal said that services like Netflix, Hotstar, YouTube and Amazon Prime will available through a new hardware box. The new set-top box will not only have the ability to stream from satellite, but broadband as well.

However, how exactly the integration will work was not shared. As with previous Tata Sky set-top boxes, the upgrade probably won’t be free.

There’s been a lot of talk about how the cable industry would survive the onslaught on online content but Nagpal believes that the cable television in India doesn’t face much competition from Over The Top (OTT) services.

The cheaper prices keep people from switching over to OTT services like Netflix. He hopes that the marriage between the two platforms will also help in that regard, especially since their hybrid device, the new set-top box, will provide more options than watching conventional TV channels.

The increase in internet speeds and accessibility played big roles in the popularity of OTT services in India.

Not the first

Tata Sky won’t be the first cable company to embark on such an endeavour. Airtel had, in April 2017, launched their Airtel Internet TV which streams digital content alongside conventional TV channels. It was the first set-top device in India to run on Android.

Users need their own subscriptions to the OTT services but Airtel allows direct streaming from Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Alt Balaji and YouTube. It basically gives you the ability to switch between the conventional Airtel Digital TV interface and the Android TV interface.

Speaking of basic Wi-Fi connectivity, Videocon D2H has their own Wi-Fi SMART HD set-top box that allows users to surf the internet while providing access to selected apps like Daily Motion and Twitter.

Either way, the innovative edge of Tata Sky will be defined not by providing OTT services on their platform, but by how they go about achieving such a feat.