With the aim to becoming one of the fastest Direct to Home Entertainment Company in India, Independent TV was launched by Reliance Big TV. It all started back in 2008 when it was initially launched as a subsidiary of the Reliance Communications and was named as Reliance Big TV. The service acquired 1 million subscribers within 90 days of its launch since there were no other operators in the market. This service was later retitled as Reliance Digital TV. The operator was acquired by Pantel Technologies & Veecon Media in first month of 2018. 

The first fraudulent activity happened in March 2018 when the company launched a pre booking DTH subscription offer in which they collected huge amount of money from its customers in the name of bookings but connections were never installed. Soon after lunching the offer, the acquiring companies Pantel and Veecom decided to rename it as Independent TV.

The company then could not provide installation to consumers as their agreement with STAR India group expired. On 23 July 2018, TDSAT asked Star India and Independent TV to enter into a new agreement within 4 weeks.

Let’s talk about the features that the company claims on its site:

BEST-IN-CLASS TECHNOLOGY

Independent TV is the only DTH entertainment company that offers the best picture quality, clearest sound and unmatched costumer services to its customers, claims the company. The brand always tries to offer the best to its users with its world-class technology and infrastructure

EXCEPTIONAL PICTURE QUALITY AND SUPERB SOUND

In addition to claiming the best in class technology, Independent TV promises its customers to deliver maximum entertainment directly at their homes with the best picture quality and stereophonic sound experience.

UNINTERRUPTED SERVICES

The company ensures that entertainment is reached in every corner of the country with its all India reach package, along with uninterrupted services with non-stop access to various entertainment channels in all languages.

UTILIZES MEASAT-3 SATELLITE AT 91.5°E

Independent TV says it utilizes the services of Measat-3 satellite at 91.5°E which is designed particularly for performing DTH operations and has Automatic level control feature which allows the satellite to maintain a good quality of the signals even in unclear weather conditions.

24*7 CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Strongly believing in customer satisfaction, Independent TV addresses the grievances of its customers with by providing 24×7 call center services across the country. 

Independent TV Recharge Plans

To help you never miss on entertainment, Independent TV offers a wide assortment of recharge options that are designed specifically to provide the best value for your money, where you can choose and pay for channels of your choice. With instant recharge features, Independent TV Recharge Plan” provides an opportunity to its customers to recharge their packs in no time, through different payment modes as visiting a nearby dealer or making online payments sitting at their homes for quick and convenient payment.

After making such bold claims in the market, the company still has a very bad rating in the market because of its false claims and uncompleted promises. They promises to give their users free channels over the course of a year and failed to do so. They even claimed to give them 500 free to air channels when there are only 150 such channels in India. Such false claims and promises have led to a great discomfort among the users and people have started abandoning its services. The company is a big topic of dispute in the market and many want it to be shut down as soon as possible in order to improve quality of the DTH market in India.

Independent TV Customer Complaints

The service rendered by Independent TV has not kept its customers satisfied Social media, customer complaint forums are flooded with complaints of all such nature. Subscribers have come out in open saying that they have been cheated. Customer care of Independent TV has been very reckless in addressing and resolving their issues. Many customers felt that their promises have not been fulfilled in terms of plan/channels to which they had subscribed. Some of the common complaints include more than 50% reduced number of channels, worst picture quality, not following norms of HEVC STB, channels freezing with slightest change in weather. They have started asking for refund as there is no one to heed to their complaints. Out of frustration, people have contacted the nodal officer of their areas but there is no one to listen to their complaints. The issue of channels like Start Sports not working during World Cup added to the woes of the subscribers. The rating has been less than 1 for the customers’ services being offered. 

There is no good news in sight for few more days. Due to nonpayment of its dues, services to Independent TV had been dismissed by satellite providers. It was initially expected that the services will restart from 22nd June. But of late it has been confirmed by company on Twitter that resumption of services will happen only after July 3.  Seems with increasing frustration, people have started going legal and to TRAI. Let us see how the events unfold!

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