With Conditional Access System (CAS) set for a New Year debut in the city, Direct to Home (DTH) service provider Tata Sky on Wednesday announced plans to deploy a door-to-door sales army to ward off competition from cable operators.

Both CAS and DTH require installation of a set-top box on the subscriber’s premises.

“The response in Calcutta has been good. To expand our subscriber base, we have trained a group of young marketing professionals, in addition to our existing employees, to visit homes and offices,” said Vikram Mehra, head (consumer marketing) of Tata Sky.

The house calls will begin next week.

Tata Sky offers 108 channels, including the Star, Sony and Zee bouquets, for a monthly subscription fee of Rs 300. The hardware needed for the DTH platform — a small dish antenna and the set-top box — costs Rs 2,999. The installation and 12-month “comprehensive warranty” costs an additional Rs 1,000.

“We will not be able to provide customised viewing on our platform. Which means, subscribers would not be able to pick and choose channels of their liking. But we will offer value-added interactive programmes on our network,” explained Mehra.

Tata Sky senior marketing manager Asish Babu claimed: “We have teamed up with Newscorp, the world’s leading satellite television service provider, and hence, have an edge over other companies. What we will offer will be world class.”

He added: “We are going to provide active news channels in both Hindi and English, which will allow viewers to watch four top news channels on one screen or watch one of them in the full-screen mode. We are also thinking of introducing regional news channels under this category.”

Also on offer will be two exclusive channels for gaming. “The first of their kind in the world, the interactive games channels are for both children and adults. The games have been designed by academicians and would help children learn mathematics, general knowledge and English,” stated Babu.

The latest Hindi blockbusters will be available on demand for a fee of Rs 75 per film. “The mode of payment for all our services will be recharge vouchers. They will be available at Tata Sky outlets in the city. Very soon, the vouchers will be available at your local grocery store,” signed off Babu.