Direct to Home (DTH) operator Tata Sky last month amended its Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) Scheme to match the amount one needs to pay for the CPE Sale Scheme with that of the CPE Rental Scheme unlike earlier wherein the CPE Sale Scheme amount was 1.5-2X that of the CPE Rental Scheme amount. There is however a lack of clarity on how Tata Sky is retailing its new connections under the new CPE Schemes with a very minuscule difference between both sets of CPE Schemes.
For the unaware, CPE Sale Scheme is a model wherein the ownership of the CPE Scheme rests with the subscriber while in the CPE Rental Scheme the ownership of the CPE Scheme rests with the company which in this case is Tata Sky. DTH operators predominantly push the CPE Rental Scheme onto new connections by default wherein the amount of the new connection is heavily discounted vis-a-vis the CPE Sale Scheme while the ownership is vested with the DTH operator effectively meaning that if the customer stops recharging his/her connection then the DTH operator reserves full rights whatsoever to take the CPE without any refund.
Tata Sky’s CPE Sale Scheme and CPE Rental Scheme are now priced at the same amount even though the ownership in both cases are different. If you were to go with the CPE Sale Scheme you get the new set-top box connection with ownership rights and 1-year warranty. If you were to go with the CPE Rental Scheme you get the new set-top box connection with 3 years warranty while the ownership rests with the DTH operator.
| Tata Sky CPE Sale Scheme | Tata Sky CPE Rental Scheme |
|---|---|
| Same Amount | Same Amount |
| Ownership with customer | Ownership with Tata Sky |
| 1-year warranty | 3-year warranty |
Earlier, Tata Sky used to offer 3 years warranty on CPE Rental Scheme which was withdrawn effective 1st October 2020 with all-new connections and upgrade leads set to get only a 1-year warranty. The same however seems to behave reversed based on what the DTH operator’s website states.
Tata Sky seemingly is now pushing its CPE Sale Scheme onto new connections by default with listings on the microsite for various set-top boxes listing CPE Sale Scheme rather than the CPE Rental Scheme. DreamDTH reached out to Tata Sky with a detailed questionnaire on the development enquiring as to what changes were made to how its retails its new connections and how one could get a new connection through CPE Sale Scheme but the same remains unanswered at the time of publication.
