[shipnil]

Guys, need some help. For my parents connection, I tried selection on Tata Sky. It starts with 0 channels in cart. But when I selected a-la-carte and proceeded to confirmation, it started showing few FTA channels as duplicate choices. My understanding was only DD channels are mandatory, but I am free to choose 74 channels. Any idea why I am getting the message of duplicate choice?

I have d2h at my home with two TVs. I selected the channels there. Compared to Tata Sky this is not at all intuitive. But I was able to remove unnecessary channels and select the ones I like. It has accepted it as a request. But there still is one question. I did not get a choice to differentiate channel selections for two TVs. In the current scenario, these are treated as mirror connections, but going forward I thought these would be treated as separate connections.

I wish to have separate selections as one is HD TV and other is old school CRT TV. How do I do it?

[Sherlocked]

Guys, which channel will telecast the IPL 2019. I am only interested in the English commentary channel. There are too many options in the Star Sports category like Star sports 1, 2, 3 and Star Select etc.
Which one should I choose?

[msdivy]

It doesn't seem to be a well thought out process. They could have given a year's time to move to a new scheme so that whoever has opted for an annual subscription would do at their renewal time.

While the stated goal was to reduce subscription cost, considering the final cost for users hope the objective hasn't boomeranged.

The hidden goal of TRAI seems to be to end channel surfing habits of TV viewers

[rovingeye]

Originally Posted by Sherlocked

Guys, which channel will telecast the IPL 2019. I am only interested in the English commentary channel. There are too many options in the Star Sports category like Star sports 1, 2, 3 and Star Select etc.
Which one should I choose?

IPL for the past few seasons airs on Sony (Sony Six?), I think. I could be wrong though.

Edit : Sorry, I was wrong. It will be Star.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by rovingeye

IPL for the past few seasons airs on Sony (Sony Six?), I think. I could be wrong though.

Its Star Sports. There are 3 HD English channels - Star Sports HD1, HD2 & Star Select HD1. There could be 2 matches in parallel and so have to subscribe to both HD1 & HD2.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by shipnil

But when I selected a-la-carte and proceeded to confirmation, it started showing few FTA channels as duplicate choices. My understanding was only DD channels are mandatory, but I am free to choose 74 channels. Any idea why I am getting the message of duplicate choice?

Welcome to the stupid world of Tata Sky. The reason you are seeing the channels as duplicate because those channels are already offered by Tata sky FTA pack. Tata Sky thought it could be smart and bundled 78 FTA channels + 22 mandatory DD channels into one pack and called it Tata sky FTA basic pack. If you chose the channels which are already in this list, then you will get that block message. On the tata sky website, check the Consumer corner section and you will find the list I am talking about.

Tata sky is not ready to allow subscribers to choose the 78 FTA channels on their own, they want to stuff their choice down the subscriber's throat.

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Its Star Sports. There are 3 HD English channels - Star Sports HD1, HD2 & Star Select HD1. There could be 2 matches in parallel and so have to subscribe to both HD1 & HD2.

What is the difference between Star Sport HD1 and Star Select HD1 when viewing IPL? I thought there is a separate channel for Hindi commentary too, something by the name of Start Sport HD1 Hindi.

[Sherlocked]

If I want to continue with my existing pack, do I need to make any preference from my side for the same and convey it to my DTH operator?
I am talking about Airtel Digital TV in particular.

Originally Posted by rovingeye

It will be Star[/url].

Yes. It will be Star Sports 1. Thanks.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by Sherlocked

If I want to continue with my existing pack, do I need to make any preference from my side for the same and convey it to my DTH operator?

Yes, if you do not, they will try to match you to their nearest packages within the price that you are paying today. In all likelihood you will lose a chunk of channels you are used to watching. I had the max channel pack with zee DTH and now for almost the same amount I am getting only about 50+ that I selected. It's feels like a big scam atleast to folks that have multi-tv today and also who had nearly the full range of English, sports and couple of regional packs (Hindi, Tamil and Telugu) like me.

[PPS]

So I'm set to be without cable tv for a bit as my cable operator has only about given the form today & I don't think I'll able to submit the list sitting in office. Can't see any bouquets or packages either.
Earlier we were paying Rs 200 per month for all channels & now after selecting the channels on the TRAI website amount comes to around Rs 480 for about 39 paid channels!

Originally Posted by shipnil

What is the difference between Star Sport HD1 and Star Select HD1 when viewing IPL? I thought there is a separate channel for Hindi commentary too, something by the name of Start Sport HD1 Hindi.

There's Star Sports 1 Hindi & if i remember correctly Select channels had that dugout section during last IPL where the likes of Styris & Kumble used to sit & discuss the game between overs.
I haven't opted for any of the Sony SIX channels as all the action i believe is on Star Sports which includes the World Cup.

[DCEite]

Pardon my ignorance, but why in 2019 we are still discussing DTH ?

Just get a Amazon Firestick + prime subscription and you are good to go. For more channels, subscribe to Hotstar premium for 999 per year.

Works out much cheaper than the DTH on an yearly basis , other than the one time investment of Firestick + Prime subscription (even prime subscription is complementary with some Airtel BB/postpaid packs).

Its been 14 months exactly since i stopped recharding my Tata sky and am absolutely loving the experience AMazon Firestick and Hotstar/Amazon Prime subscription has to offer.

[rovingeye]

Originally Posted by DCEite

Pardon my ignorance, but why in 2019 we are still discussing DTH ?

Just get a Amazon Firestick + prime subscription and you are good to go. For more channels, subscribe to Hotstar premium for 999 per year.

Works out much cheaper than the DTH on an yearly basis , other than the one time investment of Firestick + Prime subscription (even prime subscription is complementary with some Airtel BB/postpaid packs).

Its been 14 months exactly since i stopped recharding my Tata sky and am absolutely loving the experience AMazon Firestick and Hotstar/Amazon Prime subscription has to offer.

I do watch Amazon Prime Video (currently enjoying LOST), have used Hotstar and Netflix in the past too. Do you know if they have good content for kids? My little one needs her Nobita and Mickey Mouse. Thing with DTH is that the screen time is somewhat limited and controllable. Whereas, on things like Amazon Prime, she will just sit there binge watch all episodes at one go.

[Sherlocked]

Originally Posted by diyguy

if you do not, they will try to match you to their nearest packages within the price that you are paying today. In all likelihood you will lose a chunk of channels you are used to watching.

It was indeed the case as mentioned by you. So I went ahead and picked up 4 broadcaster packs and some a-la-karte channels.

Must say, it was a painful experience. The Airtel site was extremely slow. Reminded me of IRCTC days.

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by Sherlocked

It was indeed the case as mentioned by you. So I went ahead and picked up 4 broadcaster packs and some a-la-karte channels.

Must say, it was a painful experience. The Airtel site was extremely slow. Reminded me of IRCTC days.

I said this somewhere earlier also, do not go to the website. It is slow and it also times out in between and you are forced to start again. Instead of that use your TV. Go to Channel 998. That channel is a webtool that lets you do the same task without any timeout issues. I found that easier to deal with.

[Sherlocked]

Originally Posted by Zappo

I said this somewhere earlier also, do not go to the website. It is slow and it also times out in between and you are forced to start again. Instead of that use your TV. Go to Channel 998. That channel is a webtool that lets you do the same task without any timeout issues. I found that easier to deal with.

I tried doing that too. It was working perfectly fine if we select the default packages (similar to what we have currently) and after selecting "Confirm", it was showing the code which we need to SMS to have the package activated and the QR code option was present as well.

However, if I select individual Broadcaster packages and a-la carte, there wasn't appearing any code to SMS after confirming the new package. The QR code wasn't working either. So I was getting stuck there.