Tata Sky's new packages no Jingalala!

This probably had to happen some day. Tatasky comes up with its new packages starting today, 1st of june'2008. Cleverly disguised and segregated packages to make you spend much much more than your normal monthly package.

The tag line for tatasky says "Monthly Subscription Prices Reduced".In reality, the prices gets increased by almost 20%. Consider this :

1. The new Super Saver Pack which earlier used to be Rs. 300 has now been reduced to Rs 260 per month. But consider the channels it drops : almost all sports channels, except of course DD Sports and BBC channels.

2. Now here's the catch . The sports channels it dropped are certain to be addd by almost everyone having tatasky. With so much cricket and Euro 2008 coming up, no one's going to miss on the sports channels. So you go ahead and get your self "Sports Platinum Pack, which has been priced at Rs. 40 per month. So Rs. 260 and Rs. 40 = Rs. 300 and you are back to your earlier monthly price.

3. But wait, that's not all. The sports package , quite absurdly, leaves out Ten Sports. So all you WWE fans and fans of Spanish football and all, will have to go ahead and get this package as well.The package is priced Rs. 15 per month, so you now pay Rs. 15 more than what you used to.

4. This still leaves out your BBC channels. Now I am not sure how many of you really watch BBC, but I do. BBC Entertainment serials like My family, My Hero, Keeping up Apperances, Hustle, Doctor Who are all my must watch serials. Then BBC news is probably the only source for quality news for me because these days all Indian news channels believe Raju Srivastava's comedy and news on serials are the best news one has got to see. So , here I go ahead and book this package as well, which is now priced at Rs. 30 per month. So monthly billing now goes to Rs. 345.

5. Also consider the fact that I have already subscribed to Sports Gold Pack (only the Neo Channels there) at Rs. 30 per month because most of the cricket matches played in India comes on it, my monthly outing will now be Rs. 375.

This certainly does not make me go Jingalala. A Rs. 75 increase in my budget per month, makes me really miss my old cable wallah, which just kept showing all new channles without ever increasing the monthly price. And to think , that even after paying that high a monthly rent, I'd be still missing a whole bunch of channels like Bindass, 9X, Zoom, NDTV Imagine, World Movies, etc, because you guessed it right, this package "Lifestyle Gold Pack" costs Rs. 30 per month as well.

If this continues, I am sure we'll soon be getting a Star plus package, a sony package, a zee package and so on .... all in the name of giving you choices to pick your monthly spending, all the while creating a big hole in your pocket.