Consumer Review: Reliance BigTV

The television distribution space in India has stratified into a clear demarcation between the large cable providers, smaller players, and the satellite TV providers. The monopoly of DishTV was broken first by Tata Sky, and now by a few more entrants, notably Sun TV and BigTV. With the Direct-to-Home or DTH market predicted to expand five-fold, this is a lucrative space and competition will only heat up.

All too often, however, companies tend to become complacent in the midst of competition, especially those who believe their position impregnable. DishTV, with a close to 50% marketshare, has been going through similar complacency despite the new competitors. its customer service levels have dropped to unbelievable levels and it has not kept pace with the other players in adding new channels, services, etc.

I faced the brunt of this disrespect for customers myself when my smart card went on the blink. There had been technical issues earlier, but this time the company seemed to not be particularly interested in addressing the problem. Repeated calls to the call center met with a jumble of reasons/suggestions, with the final suggestion being the purchase of a new smart card. I decided I would switch providers and looked at the options before deciding to try out the new Reliance BigTV service.

I visited the nearest Reliance WebWorld and perused the available packages. The options were quite interesting and well-priced, costing Rs. 2190/- for a whole year's service, including installation. There was a good set of add-ons, besides the well-stocked base package. The technology was also reasonably up-to-date, using MPEG 4, which enables the provider to either provide more channels or increase broadcast quality, which should be useful as more channels move towards HD transmission in India by next year.

The manager did caution me that demand was high for the BigTV service, and that there might be a delay with installation. I bought the package and booked a work order with the call center. After a few days however, there was no update or phone call to confirm installation. I became a regular caller to their call center, calling at least once a day, and registering innumerable complaints, all of which entered the 'solving' state but did not progress further. The call center itself was well-serviced, with minimal wait times and mostly courteous agents.

Matters reached a head when I had not received an installation call for over 10 days. The call center had no contact details for the technical team, and no evident escalation procedure. I found numerous online complaints on the same issue and began to wonder if the company had launched too soon with insufficient trained installers. A conversation with the Corporate Communications head provided little assurance, except the request to send in an e-mail. I did so, and for good measure, copied Anil Ambani.

Voila! I received a call from the installer the next morning asking when could he visit and complete the installation. The process itself was seamless, the installers evidently well-trained and technically adept. I learned that demand had indeed outstripped supply, and the company had had to bring in over 400 installers to meet surging demand.

The service is very good. The set-top box provides component video output, though no HDMI. The channels are very clear, and the selection guide far better than that provided by either DishTV or Tata Sky. There is an array of Hindi and regional cinema channels showing quite new movies, free for the first five months. The box tends to hang every once in a while, especially when flipping through channels fast, but nothing that a restart won't fix.

Reliance BigTV seems a formidable competitor, if they can get their distribution and installation challenges worked out. Indeed, they can easily provide bundled TriplePlay (telephone, broadband, satellite), if they chose to do so, and the regulator allows.