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Tag: Arun Unni

  • Tata Sky ventures into curated short content with Shorts TV

    Tata Sky ventures into curated short content with Shorts TV

    MUMBAI: India’s leading DTH player Tata Sky has entered into a partnership with a London-based television channel Shorts TV for its new platform Tata Sky ShortsTV.

    The newly launched platform is one of a kind in the country, dedicated to curated short stories and films. The subscription price for this service has been fixed at Rs. 75 per month. Along with availability on the telly screen, the service is also available on the mobile app as well as the DTH operator’s website.

    “We were always keen to bring beautiful short form content on our platform, but we needed to find the partner who did it right. That’s how we found Shorts TV team who really knew how to curate short films properly,” Tata Sky chief content officer Arun Unni said, announcing the launch of the new service here yesterday.

    Shorts International Ltd chief executive Carter Pilcher, who mentioned they had scouted for other Indian partners, said, “We are thrilled to partner with Tata Sky. They’re India’s cutting-edge content distributor and as their launch of Tata Sky ShortsTV proves, they’re way ahead of the crowd.”

    Pilcher added that the new Tata Sky ShortsTV service was a good addition to the DTH operator’s value-added services portfolio and will be a “huge success with millennial audiences”.
    ShortsTV has also partnered with Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films to bring a flood of India’s most original and powerful short films to the Tata Sky platform.

    The curated platform will feature a line-up of ,2000 premium titles, including the best of Oscars, Cannes, etc. apart from a comprehensive collection of recent Indian short stories and films. There will be original content in regional languages also. Interestingly, there are also collaborations with some of the Indian film schools, including Hindi film director-producer Subhash Ghai-promoted Whistling Woods.

    “Tata Sky ShortsTV aims to be that destination where a curated selection of 2000+ of the world’s best short films can be enjoyed on a 24×7 basis. Our partner has worked hard for more than a year to localize the proposition with 500+ Indian short films,” Unni explained.

    Though Unni did not mention the targeted subscriber number, he did admit a good service goes to 10-15 per cent of the relevant base as experience has shown them. “Hence, these statistics guide us for this particular service and its growth potential,” he added.

    For promoting the content, Tata Sky will use every available medium to talk to consumers.

    Some of the international offerings include God of Love, Bear Story, Atlantic, Henry, Borrowed Time, Curfew, Blood Money, A Sense of History, Neighbours, Walls, Blue Season, Midnight of My Life and Picture Paris. Also featured will be the likes of Chutney, Ahalya, Shunyata, Aamad, Kheer, Arre Baba, Urmi’s Cat, Naughty Amelia Jane, all critically acclaimed films.

    Shorts International is headquartered in London and is represented in the US by Shorts Entertainment Networks, a wholly owned subsidiary located in Los Angeles. The company is led by CEO Carter Pilcher, and is owned by Shorts Entertainment Holdings with AMC Networks as a significant minority shareholder.

  • Tata Sky to launch Telugu and Tamil cinema

    Tata Sky to launch Telugu and Tamil cinema

    MUMBAI: Tata Sky recently launched value-added services – Tata Sky Telugu Cinema and Tata Sky Tamil Cinema, priced at Rs 45 per month. The ad-free services are affordable by people of all age groups, geographical and socio-economic boundaries.

    With this, Tata Sky not only increases the plethora of offerings in Southern markets but also caters to movie buffs across the country. With its customer-centric approach and aim to provide the best of content to its subscribers, the two new services will provide Telugu and Tamil Cinema at the comfort of people’s home.

    Tata Sky CCO Arun Unni said, “Telugu and Tamil film industries today have a fan following that transcends the state boundaries and captures the interest of viewers across the country. To cater to the ever-increasing demand for regional cinema, Tata Sky has partnered with Star Maa for Telugu films and Star Vijay for Tamil films to offer the best of content in an ad-free format to all movie lovers.”

    South market, with the highest TV viewership across the country along with a large appetite for movies in regional language provides Tata Sky an opportunity to offer high quality regional movies on medium of choice. The content library ranges from the latest blockbuster movie premieres, before their screening on television, to classic movies – with movie options for all age groups.

    Tata Sky's bouquet of regional cinema services now includes Tata Sky Telugu, Tata Sky Tamil, Tata Sky Bangla, Tata Sky Punjab De Rang, Tata Sky Marathi and Tata Sky Kids Cinema.

  • Tata Sky aims to drive up ARPU with international content

    Tata Sky aims to drive up ARPU with international content

    MUMBAI: Direct-to-home (DTH) service Tata Sky has launched its newest offering, Tata Sky World Screen—a handpicked bouquet of international entertainment content available from 16 March 2018. 

    Tata Sky World Screen will feature prime content from across geographies and multiple languages (Arabic, Russian, Spanish, Belgium, Israel, Cuba, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Hindi, Swahili, Japanese, Chinese and Korean). Non-English content will have subtitles and some will also be dubbed in English. The ad-free service will allow subscribers to view select series and movies from across the world round the clock. 

    “Content like this is not just interesting to tier 1 and 2 cities but also to tier 3 and 4. People are willing to pay if they get the right product. The way we distribute our content has a greater chance of reaching hinterlands as well. Digital is more relevant in promoting this content than any other product,” said Tata Sky chief content officer Arun Unni.

    “We focus on both ARPU (average revenue per user) as well as increasing the subscriber base. The average industry ARPU is Rs 270-300, our ARPU is a bit higher than the industry figure,” he added.

    Priced at Rs 75 a month, the content will be available to subscribers on their TV sets through the set top box, mobile app and the web app of Tata Sky.

    “Our analysis indicates that consumption patterns are evolving, and there is an audience looking for exciting and diverse content, unconstrained by language. The objective here is to give consumers the content that is not easy to discover and consume. Our handpicked list includes some of the most popular and critically acclaimed movies and TV shows across the world, a lot of which has never been seen on TV before in India,” added Unni.

    Amongst the TV series premieres will be the acclaimed thriller Wallander, Happy Valley, Code 37, Team Chocolate, Prisoners of War and Babylon Berlin. There will also be two movie premieres a month from world cinema. 

    In another partnership, India’s premier youth entertainment portal 101India.com partnered with Toronto based media giant QYOU Media for its newly launched service on Tata Sky, The Q India. The localised service will showcase premium digital content curated from popular content creators and broadcast it on TV.

    Also Read :

    Tata Sky woos new customers with free Star Sports channels

    The party continues on Tata Sky Mobile app

  • Sharlton Menezes joins Tata Sky as head of digital content

    Sharlton Menezes joins Tata Sky as head of digital content

    MUMBAI: Sharlton Menezes has joined DTH operator Tata Sky as head of content for digital. Based in Mumbai, Menezes, who took up the role last month, is reporting to Tata Sky’s chief content officer Arun Unni.

    Menezes has around a decade of experience in the content world. He started his content journey with Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd (ZEEL), where he was head of content and marketing English entertainment (Zee Cafe and Zee Studio) for the majority of his tenure. In August 2015, he was elevated to business head-digital video at the company.

    He subsequently joined LeEco, a Chinese multinational conglomerate corporation. It entered into the Indian market with mobile phones. Menezes worked with LeEco for over a year till May 2017.

    Also Read:

    Tata Sky customises sports-viewing with Star alliance, in talks with Sony

    ICC’s appointment of Indra Nooyi raises eyebrows

  • Masterpieces of marathi content all day now with launch of Tata Sky marathi cinema

    Masterpieces of marathi content all day now with launch of Tata Sky marathi cinema

    MUMBAI: Lovers of Marathi cinema can now join the greatest celebration of the genre at the touch of a button with the launch of Tata Sky Marathi Cinema, a new service bringing the finest in Marathi movies, songs and plays to subscribers of India’s leading content distribution platform. In the launch film, the celebrated actor Swwapnil Joshi adds light on the irreplaceable treasures of Marathi Cinema that will be available on the service.

    The service, launched in partnership with Shemaroo, will give subscribers access to more than 120 films, 500 songs and the best in Marathi theatre. Viewers will be able to watch as many as three movies a day apart from access to plenty of ad-free content including comedy special and trailers. This makes the 24×7 Tata Sky Marathi Cinema service the best Marathi ad-free cinema experience on a DTH platform with a world television premiere every Sunday.

    Tata Sky at Chief Content Officer, Arun Unni said at the launch, “Tata Sky Marathi Cinema, like Tata Sky Bangla Cinema and Tata Sky Punjab De Rang, is a reaffirmation of our belief that there is considerable demand and interest for a good regional cinema experience – high quality movies and plays in a convenient ad-free format. Marathi Cinema is currently amid a resurgence, appreciated not just by Marathi speakers but by cinema lovers across the country. This product is our way of engaging lovers of iconic Marathi masterpieces.”

    Shemaroo Entertainment Limited – Director, Hiren Gada added, “Shemaroo Entertainment is pleased to associate with Tata Sky and bring the finest of marathi films, songs and theatre on Tata Sky Marathi Cinema. The service will be fueled by Shemaroo’s exhaustive and eclectic library of content and programming expertise. Our endeavour has always been to add value to our business partners and boost their offerings with our content prowess. With strong, bold, wide content and scaled production values, Marathi cinema has not just managed to grow in the recent past but also break the regional shackles and create a buzz amongst cinema lovers.  We are confident that the audiences will enjoy this new offering.”

    Tata Sky Marathi Cinema will showcase latest hits such as Paisa Paisa (2016), Cindrella (2015), Bus Stop (2017), Katti Batti (2015) and many others. The service will also feature popular plays such as Lahanpan Dega Deva, Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy, Lageraho Rajabhaiya, Usna Navra and Kanekari. The service will be available 24×7 on service number #1205.

    Tata Sky has an array of movie services such as Tata Sky Bollywood Premiere, Tata Sky Classic Cinema, Tata Sky Punjab De Rang, Tata Sky Bangla Cinema, Tata Sky World Series and Tata Sky Mumbai Film Festival.

  • Tata Sky offers critically-acclaimed films in six languages for free

    Tata Sky offers critically-acclaimed films in six languages for free

    MUMBAI: Tata Sky, a content distribution platform, kickstarted the festive season with its Tata Sky Mumbai Film Festival.

    It has all – screening films from both, the remotest corners of India and countries across the globe, award-winning, critically-acclaimed masterpieces, spread over two months.

    The films are exclusive and curated films in association with Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.

    Close to 30 films will run for a duration of two months starting from 1 October to 30 November 2017 in languages such as Hindi, English, Punjabi, Marathi, Assamese, Manipuri, International (with subtitles) available on channel number 302 in HD and 303 in SD.

    After a successful 2016 Tata Sky Mumbai Film Festival Service, wherein 20+ films were available to subscribers at no additional charge, the company announced a bigger and better festival catering to connoisseurs on 4 October 2017.

    Tata Sky chief content officer Arun Unni said, “The response last year indicated that there is a sizeable audience for high-quality and critically-acclaimed cinema, encouraging us to further explore and bring forward these hidden gems. Our scale allows us to support great art and good talent an all-India platform, especially to regions outside the major cultural centres, where access to film festivals is difficult.”

    MAMI festival director Anupama Chopra said, “There are so many wonderful filmmakers who narrate compelling stories. This unique platform enables these to reach new and varied audience. The festival serves both, story-tellers and movie-lovers.”

    Let the celebration of cinema begin!

  • Tata Sky customises sports-viewing with Star alliance, in talks with Sony

    Tata Sky customises sports-viewing with Star alliance, in talks with Sony

    MUMBAI: Pushing the boundaries of innovation in sports viewing this sports season, Tata Sky and Star Sports launched the ‘Star Sports Select Experience’with the Premier League.

    This kind of service, which has been prevalent in the UK, US and Europe, promises to take the fans straight to the heart of their favourite sport in a fully-immersive experience, offering more live matches and the option of multi-camera and stadium view. This service can be accessed via the red button on the Tata Sky remote which will be visible on Star Sports Select 1 and Star Sports Select 1HD, Star Sports 1 (SD & HD), Star Sports 1 Hindi (SD & HD).

    Tata Sky has introduced the add-on service, experimenting with Roland Garros – The French Open, followed by Wimbledon. Also exclusive to all Tata Sky subscribers are the options of watching Wimbledon highlights and an “Inside Wimbledon” experience with expert analysis and player interviews. The service has taken the consumer experience to a different level.

    The official channel of Wimbledon came to India for the first time through this add-on service.

    Talking to Indiantelevision.com, Tata Sky chief content officer Arun Unni said, “The service is customised for each sports differently and improvement is done based on the feedbacks we got from our viewers. The innovation requires a close partnership between the platform and the broadcaster. We have approached Sony (Pictures Network India) as well for the same service.”

    For the cricket fans, Tata Sky has introduced its add-on service for India versus Australia matches which started on 17 September, 2017. Beyond viewing the main match, the consumer has two additional choices.

    Sports fans in India largely follow the game closely and observe the additional information constantly. Unni stated, “The service is free; the main idea behind launching it was to enhance the consumer experience. We started experimenting with tennis, and the objective was to go to a high viewership sports such as cricket. We believe that the enhancement and the experience can be maximised for the consumer, and ‘sports’ made sense.”

    “Tata Sky believes in going beyond the conventional entertainment platform. At no additional cost to Tata Sky subscribers, the feature gives its sports fans wider choices on camera angles, highlights and in-depth information on the sport at their convenience. Tata Sky, in partnership with Star Sports, has been able to empower subscribers by giving them freedom of watching multiple live simulcast matches,” Unni added.

    With the new complimentary viewing extravaganza, Tata Sky is surely wowing its Star fans!

    Watch video here :

  • Tata Sky & QYOU partner to bring online video content

    MUMBAI: QYOU Media, a leading curator of premium ‘best-of-web’ video for multiscreen distribution, has expanded its partnership with Tata Sky, a leading content distribution platform in India, in the largest single-territory deployment of its linear channel to date. Previously available through Tata Sky’s mobile app, this broader deal will make QYOU’s 24/7 service of online video content available to 17 million Tata Sky connections across television and mobile.

    The rapid growth in internet access has seen the number of users in India surge to almost 400 million. Online short-form video available through sites such as YouTube, Daily Motion and Facebook is hugely popular, with the average length of a viewed video in India being less than twenty minutes. To cater to the tastes of digital native millennial and generation Z audiences who are engaging with short-form video on a daily basis, Tata Sky will feature The QYOU’s 24/7 service which curates unique digital-first content. This content will be featured through the screens and services its younger customers in India love to use, especially mobile and TV.

    As part of the agreement, QYOU and Tata Sky will also start to feature content from local creators in India and some of the most popular online videos from the region in order to create highly localized shows that appeal to Indian audiences. The service will be available on Ch 200 (HD) & Ch 201 (SD) on Tata Sky and keeping in mind the ‘on the go’ nature of the content, it will also be available on the Tata Sky app on Live TV and VOD.

    Tata Sky chief content officer Arun Unni commented: “Catering to audiences’ changing preferences and tastes has always been the core focus for Tata Sky. This will be the first time that subscribers can view short format content 24×7 on their TV sets on the Tata Sky Mobile App. With the burgeoning popularity of online video in India and the incredible depth of unique content in QYOU’s archives, it makes complete sense for us to provide this service to our subscriber base.”

    QYOU Media CEO Curt Marvis adds: “India is renowned for being a region filled with tech-savvy young people, who navigate the worlds of internet video and traditional television with complete ease. Having a curated mix of the best digital-first video content at their fingertips – whether they’re watching on a mobile device or via the TV screen – means that they can enjoy the best of both worlds and never miss a thing. We are proud that our partnership with Tata Sky is evolving and enabling us to make the largest deployment of our channel in a single market to date.”

  • Tata Sky hires Arun Unni as senior vice president – content

    Tata Sky hires Arun Unni as senior vice president – content

    MUMBAI: Tata Sky has roped in Arun Unni as senior vice president – content. 

    Unni steps into the shoes on Mukund Sharma, who recently resigned to join Lukup Media.

    Unni has previously been a consultant with 14 years of experience in strategy development and operational improvement across B2C and B2B companies. 

    A source close to the development tells Indiantelevision.com that Unni will be reporting to Tata Sky chief content and business development officer Paolo Matteo Agostinelli. 

    “Arun has already joined the company and he will be heading content acquisition and strategy at Tata Sky,” the source added.

    Deeply passionate about TV and media, Unni is an avid follower of content and distribution models globally. A Civil engineer from IIT Mumbai and an IIM – Ahmedabad pass out, he is an early adopter of nearly all types of content distribution hardware – Tata Sky HD DVR, Chromecast, Xbox, Media players, Mobile apps etc. His earlier work stints have been with A.T. Kearney, KPMG and Arthur Andersen India.

  • Tata Sky hires Arun Unni as senior vice president – content

    Tata Sky hires Arun Unni as senior vice president – content

    MUMBAI: Tata Sky has roped in Arun Unni as senior vice president – content. 

    Unni steps into the shoes on Mukund Sharma, who recently resigned to join Lukup Media.

    Unni has previously been a consultant with 14 years of experience in strategy development and operational improvement across B2C and B2B companies. 

    A source close to the development tells Indiantelevision.com that Unni will be reporting to Tata Sky chief content and business development officer Paolo Matteo Agostinelli. 

    “Arun has already joined the company and he will be heading content acquisition and strategy at Tata Sky,” the source added.

    Deeply passionate about TV and media, Unni is an avid follower of content and distribution models globally. A Civil engineer from IIT Mumbai and an IIM – Ahmedabad pass out, he is an early adopter of nearly all types of content distribution hardware – Tata Sky HD DVR, Chromecast, Xbox, Media players, Mobile apps etc. His earlier work stints have been with A.T. Kearney, KPMG and Arthur Andersen India.