Indiantelevision.com Team

(22 August 2006 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Tata Sky, the direct-to-home platform from Tata and Star Group has added four regional channels to its special introductory package of Rs 200 per month (inclusive of taxes). The DTH platform also introduces the fifth interactive service Actve Games.

The four channels include Star Ananda, DD Chandana, DD Gujarati and DD Punjabi.

The DTH company has earlier introduced interactive services such as Actve Newsroom, Actve Khabar, Actve Star News and an on-screen Guide.

Actve Games, this dedicated interactive gaming service will be available free to all its subscribers. The service provides access to play multiple interactive games on television.

According to an official release, the gaming service caters to all ages with the option of playing six exciting interactive games including Aliens, Trance, Solitaire, Cubix, Bug Blaster and Speed Spell on their television screen.

This service termed as 'easy-to-use' can be played with the help of the Tata Sky remote, eliminating the need of investing in additional hardware, states the release. Further, to maintain the enthusiasm levels of its audiences, Tata Sky will refresh the games periodically.

Actve Star News service presents the viewer with four screens in a single window allowing him to choose from current news, headlines, top stories and special features, at the press of a button. The service also scrolls text, allowing the viewer to read the headlines, weather updates of 35 cities and a constant update on the stock market.

Tata Sky CEO and MD Vikram Kaushik said, "Services such as Actve Games and Actve Star News are perfect examples of how television today has transformed into an interactive medium, allowing viewers the opportunity to do more than just watch television. This is only the beginning, we will continue to introduce innovative services to enhance the entertainment choices for our subscribers."

Tata Sky recently launched its satellite television service across 300 cities in India on 8 August. Only 15 days from the launch and the service has already penetrated 2000 cities,the company claims.

At present, the platform has on offer channels includes Star, Sony, Discovery, Disney, MTV, NDTV, ESPN Star Sports, National Geographic, Eenadu, TV Today, Asianet and many more.