REGULAR MARKETING MIX

Marketing Mix of DishTV analyses the brand/company which covers 4Ps (Product, Price, Place,
Promotion) and explains the DishTV marketing strategy. The article elaborates the pricing,
advertising & distribution strategies used by the company.
Let us start the DishTV Marketing Mix:

Product:
DishTV is one the well-established DTH service providers having a strong customer base.
DishTV is a digital entertainment company which provides Direct to Home Entertainment service
to its customers using high-class infrastructure consisting of tri-satellite technology that
broadcasts High Definition and Standard Definition signals. DishTV’s offerings in its marketing
mix product portfolio can be divided into products, packs and services:
Products:
• High Definition box with Universal remote- Dish HD+
• Digital Set top box- Dish+, Dish on Wheels, Dish Flix, Universal Remote
DishTV Packs:
• Hi Definition packs
• Standard definition packs
• Add-on packs(s)
Other DishTV services:
• Movies on Demand
• Miniplex
• Multilingual services
• Active services
The product category of DishTV includes network hardware. DishTV also offers innovative
products like Dish on wheels where one can have an entertainment system in the car and Dish
Flix, India’s first home video system with 50 pre-downloaded movies with 15 new movies
refreshed each month. The packs offered by DishTV are the network services which come in
different categories for hi definition and standard definition. The packs are further divided on the
basis of number of channels offered in sports, entertainment, family, children and regional
channels. Other DishTV services include Miniplex which premiers a newly released movie every
Friday, Movies on Demand which allows users to order their favourite movie and the Active
Services which provide content in gaming, music-devotional and otherwise, kids section and
comedy.
Price:
DishTV has got several packs with different pricing strategies mainly to compete with other DTH
players. The pricing for all three offerings of DishTV is different. The prices of products are fixed
and taken as one-time installation charges at the time of purchase. An overview of the pricing
strategy in the marketing mix of DishTV is as discussed. DishTV packs are priced on a prepaid
subscription based model, where the user pays for the channels he subscribes per day, per month,
per 6 months or per year depending on his subscription plan. The subscription plans for packs are
very flexible. The packs are priced mainly on the basis of number of channels available in it, but
huge discounts and offers are given for longer duration subscriptions. Services have no common
pricing strategy. For example, while the customer pays for each movie he orders in Movie on
Demand (usage based), he pays Rs.55 per month for Miniplex (monthly rental). Other services
like multilingual are completely free of cost, meanwhile Active services are subscription based.
In addition to above, DishTV also launched differential pricing for customers in metros, phase I
and phase II cities to increase the yield management and minimize the consumer surplus.

Place:
For the product category, orders for DishTV set top box installations are taken predominantly via
three channels- online order booking, order by calling on helpline and visiting a DishTV dealer
store. The first two channels are direct from consumer to the company, but the penetration of
these channels is still not fully developed in the present Indian context. Therefore, DishTV also
maintains a pan-India dealer network to reach the rural and internet averse customers. The
distribution network for DishTV is such that it owns the last mile subscriber. It maintains a huge
network of 172,000 dealers all over India across 8600+ towns, has over 300 sales personnel and
14 regional offices. For buying packs, there is a recharge system similar to a mobile network
recharge. The packs are available online on DishTV’s website as well as can be bought from
retailer shops. Same goes with the value-added services like Movie on Demand, Miniplex, Active
services etc. DishTV recharges are also available on various Mobile recharge platforms like
Paytm, mobikwik etc.

Promotion:
DishTV has got a 360 marketing strategy as a part of its advertising and marketing. DishTV is the
market leader in DTH services with a strong share market share, followed closely by the
competitor Tata Sky. Since the pricing for majority players in the segment are similar, DishTV
follows aggressive marketing to maintain edge over competitors. It has roped in famous Indian
Actor Shah Rukh Khan as its brand ambassador. Over the past few years it has come up with
various creative and interesting ad campaigns like “Wish Karo, Dish Karo”, “Sab par Dish
sawaar hai” and “Life Masala Maar ke” which mean “Just wish and have Dish”, “Everyone is
crazy about Dish” and “Life with spice” respectively. The earlier DishTV ad campaigns were
targeted at cable TV subscribers to encourage users to have a DTH service owing to better quality
of service for affordable prices by pitching it as India’s first DTH service provider. The next set
of ads focused on the competition while the latest ad commercial focuses on the government’s
recent mandate of cable tv digitization. The protagonist of ad reminds the viewers to switch to
digital from analog cable before the deadline and ends with the tagline- “Set top box matlab
DishTV”.
Since this is a service marketing brand, here are the other three Ps to make it the 7Ps marketing
mix of DishTV.
People:
DishTV is a pioneer in India’s DTH service and it focuses on delivering quality via innovation,
customer delight and most importantly service delivery. Although its offering can be categorised
as mental stimulus and is a low contact service, the emphasis on quality service delivery requires
a technically advanced and highly motivated work force. DishTV has an energetic team of
employees who take immense pride in providing excellence. The company tries to build an
environment of support and fast track career growth to attract and retain the best talent. DishTV’s
employment philosophy is oriented towards employees and their success. They inculcate the key
deliverables of service into their workforce very clearly. It’s employment philosophy also ensures
that the individual rights of employees are respected and they are treated with courtesy and
dignity. To retain talent, DishTV ensures that the employees are best suited to the job positions
they are given on the basis of their skill set. The evaluation of employees is done based on their
abilities, the job performance, skills and experience.

Physical Evidence:
DishTV positions itself as the company of firsts and banks on the fact that it is the first DTH
service provider of the country. It keeps coming up with new technologies and offers them for the
first time in country- like Dish Flix, India’s first home video system and Dish on wheels service.
It has got numerous awards for its service delivery excellence which it showcases it proudly on
the company’s website and in promotions. DishTV is the largest DTH service provider in Asia. It
has been awarded as The Most Trusted DTH Brand of Indian four times in a row by Brand Trust
of India, Most Innovative Service of the year and recognized for Innovation in Programming. It
has also been awarded for the Best Promotional Marketing Campaign. DishTV also explicitly
promotes the advanced infrastructure and network systems it has in place. DishTV is the first in
India to use 3 satellites for broadcasting and has coverage in every corner of the country. It uses
NSS6 satellite designed especially for DTH operations and is equipped with Automatic Level
Control which enables good broadcast service even in bad weather conditions.

Process:
As already stated, the service provided by DishTV can be classified as mental stimulus, so the
customer is not part of the service co-creation directly. Therefore, most of the processing takes
place behind the curtain if we look at the theatre model of service. The process of service delivery
is fairly technical and is abstracted from the users. Customers only focus on the result of service
and not the whole process of it. But when it comes to buying packs and booking for a DishTV set
top box, the process matters. DishTV has a very good online presence and widely distributed
dealer network which take care of this process and provide a seamless and comfortable buying
experience to the customer. Online recharges provide ease of use and high functionality. Order
booking can be either done online, through call centre or through the dealer network. Except
buying from the dealer, customer can do most of the purchase process sitting in the comforts of
his home which saves a lot of non-monetary cost for the customer. Hence, this gives an overview
of DishTV marketing mix.