46,000 VOOM Subscribers As Of 2/28/2005 Reported

[vurbano]

I can’t agree you’ve explained what your motives are. Just my opinion. I asked you why several weeks ago, but found no explanation in your response. Why now?? It is my observation that you like to talk about all sorts of other things…until the temperature starts to rise…and THEN you become very pious as to "the cause" and conciliatory for a while…until the heat starts to rise again. Not just in this forum, either. What were you doing mid-December?

On a more positive note, I’ve seen some excellent comments and good advice in most of the posts in this thread…too many to respond to individually, so just a small sampling…
Makes good sense to me, especially your advice to Gutter. Gonna have to try that myself, soon!

RE: 1st sentence…I sure wish we could leave him alone…VERY ALONE! He only complains about personal attacks when he is being bested, either by a poster's fact or humor...and we all have the right to keep and bear arms against such intruders, particularly when we know he usually fires the first volley. RE: the balance of your post…SPOT ON!! I don’t envy your job.

And that’s a fact!! Funny too!! :clap

As always, ever-optomistic in closing…this seems to fit..."Who does not know fellows that always have an ill-conditioned fact or two that they lead after them into decent company like so many bull-dogs, ready to let them slip at every ingenious suggestion, or convenient generalization, or pleasant fancy? I allow no ''facts'' at this table." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes (No, I didn't supply the quotations around "facts").

Goodnight, sweet Princes and Princesses. (VOOM ON!!!) bow

I agree.

 

[speedyray]

If over five months, no the numbers are bad, if over two months, and based on the revenue amount, I do think the extra 20,000 came in the last two months which does show some growth, a drop in the bucket to D* and E* but a step in the right direction.
What I don't like are these six months contracts, when Voom first started they said no contracts, I know they did it because of churn, but I have learned from E* posts, when people want to leave but cannot, they get pretty pissed off and really start to hate the company, say a person decides after three months that he/she does not like Voom and wishes to cancel but can't, then that customer might ( and after reading E* posts will ) talk bad about the company to family, co-workers, etc.
If a customer wants to leave, let them, they will have a better feeling about the company and maybe give it another try.

You can leave, all you have to do is pay for your install (more or less). The exit fee is essentially what you are getting free during the $1 signup. I read all the terms before I signed up and i am committed to my 6 months come hell or high water. That said it has been a pleasure so far. My install was relatively painless, I had one problem with one channel and a service call was quick and painless as well. Plus, at least it is 6 months not a year or two like most things such as cell phones.

 

[speedyray]

Sean,
There are no financial people at VOOM yet. There are financial people at cablevision. Cablevision released the revenue figures for VOOM for the last quarter and it was only 5,314,000. They did not release a subscriber number for the last quarter. The quarter before that one had almost identical revenue that resulted from 26,000 subscribers. Since there were no major changes in promotions that would change the ratio of income to subscriber there is no possible way that 46,000 subscribers would only produce 5 million in revenue. If this was true VOOM would be in even worse shape. They may have ended quarter 4 with 26,000 subscribers and have added another 20,000 since then but I don't see any evidence that indicates that is even a remote possibility. On the other hand there is a lot of evidence that things have pretty much stayed the same as far as subscriber numbers. (i.e. there is no longer period to reach VOOM by phone or chat while there seems to still be the same number of CSR's, there is no backlog for service calls or installs or equipment, there is no vast increase in the number of people on this site or the Yahoo group asking "newbie" questions. We can all remember what is was like the few months that Voom added 5,000 subscribers per month so it is unlikely that they have suddenly begun adding 10,000 per month over the last two months.

The press release from VOOM LLC was not from a public company. It does not have the same obligations as a release from a public company and I am another that does not believe it.

Well, I am one of these new subscribers and they have yet to get more than a buck from me. They will start this billing cycle. I am sure the bulk of these new subscribers are with me. It seems that the install problems are a thing of the past. I was billed correctly, installed timely, and had no real reason to call except I lost a channel and called for support (10 mins on two calls maybe). That said it could be that they just have their act together a little better and the numbers have yet to show the growth. My bet is that most of the 46,000 came in late January and early Feb as people were getting used to thier Christmas presents and preping for the Super Bowl and other big sporting events. (That is why I have an HDTV and VOOM)

 

[jnardone]

Well, I am one of these new subscribers and they have yet to get more than a buck from me. They will start this billing cycle. I am sure the bulk of these new subscribers are with me. It seems that the install problems are a thing of the past. I was billed correctly, installed timely, and had no real reason to call except I lost a channel and called for support (10 mins on two calls maybe). That said it could be that they just have their act together a little better and the numbers have yet to show the growth. My bet is that most of the 46,000 came in late January and early Feb as people were getting used to thier Christmas presents and preping for the Super Bowl and other big sporting events. (That is why I have an HDTV and VOOM)

You may be correct but the evidence is against it. If you guys are saying that VOOM didn't add any net subs in Q4 and then 20,000 people signed up since the $1.00 install deal went into effect you are deluded. No business can handle that kind of a jump in business without massive problems. We saw it when VOOM grew last Spring/Summer and the number of installs had only jumped to 5,000 per month. Take a look back at the number of posts about missed appointments, OTA problems, or "hi I'm new". There is no evidence of a similar increase in subscribers at this time.

 

[Sean Mota]

You may be correct but the evidence is against it. If you guys are saying that VOOM didn't add any net subs in Q4 and then 20,000 people signed up since the $1.00 install deal went into effect you are deluded. No business can handle that kind of a jump in business without massive problems. We saw it when VOOM grew last Spring/Summer and the number of installs had only jumped to 5,000 per month. Take a look back at the number of posts about missed appointments, OTA problems, or "hi I'm new". There is no evidence of a similar increase in subscribers at this time.

You are the only who is acting delusional if you don't think that there has been a massive of new subscribers during the pass three months.

 

[gutter]

LOL


"I won't comment on Justalurker..."

and then you proceed to comment

good one

Indeed what comment did I make? He does spend more time here. check posts vs Dish. That is his choice and I am not knocking him for that.

 

[zombie]

almost doubling subscriber count is nothing to sneeze at but...

I think the major issue voom faced (or is facing) is that a lot (vast majority) of people still don't have an HDTV, and while the picture is better than D* even on my bedroom (non-HD) set, it still lacks many of the channels they can find on other services.

Simply put the price per channel is higher with VOOM and it still lacks many of the channels that would bring in a larger number of people.


I really do love my voom so please don't kill me for my opinion

 

[James Long]

Indeed what comment did I make? He does spend more time here. check posts vs Dish. That is his choice and I am not knocking him for that.

And, as noted in my reply, this isn't the only forum I am on. And there is bound to be more posts when a vibrant conversation is ongoing. Your comparison of posts in satelliteguys dish vs voom is not the whole picture. So why don't you stop attacking people and work on the topic?

JL

 

[gutter]

So why don't you stop attacking people and work on the topic?

JL

Now where is the attack? I agreed that you have a right to read and post as you like. I see paranoia appearing. How about being constructive and instead of destructive to the topic? You keep stating your opinions as fact and ignoring everything else. This is not an attack...it is constructive advice on how to get along.

 

[Indy]

If you take the current customer count of 46K and multiply that by 100 you are only talking 4.6 million. That is still a low number to float a 3rd competing DBS provider. I hope we are not being too optimistic that Voom will continue. After all the customer count and the POTENTIAL customer count has to be taken into account. Just how many more potential DBS customers are out there? I guess the real question is how many will go with Voom?

I really do not see droves of E* and D* customers jumping ship for Voom. That would be great but I have to be realistic. If Voom floats on it's own I will be very happy to see that happen. But being a business man myself I have had to discontinue services to my customers because the demand was not universal for the majority of my customer base and only satisfied a small enthusiastic minority.

This is a tough call. I really can not see Charles Dolan letting emotions sway his decision to keep Voom going at all costs. Either there is something we are not aware of in the greater scheme of things or Charles has lost his sensibility.

Stay tuned, this is quite a story and a very fun ride!

 

[VMI]

jnardone, on what basis do you say VOOM couldn't have added that many subs? I know first hand by the amount of receivers rolling out my door EVERY DAY that the subscriber count is easily at 46,000. We can and have handled the workload and are poised for additional growth. What most people don't realize and can't grasp is the VOOM's problem is how to manage growth and not where and how to find customers. I am in Florida, on of the battleground states for satellite and where VOOM is exploding and oh by the way D* is advertising HD like never before. Do you think that's coincidence? No, D* knows they better not rest or they will continue to lose subs.

 

[Cliff]

Now where is the attack? I agreed that you have a right to read and post as you like. I see paranoia appearing. How about being constructive and instead of destructive to the topic? You keep stating your opinions as fact and ignoring everything else. This is not an attack...it is constructive advice on how to get along.

I think ole JL is a country boy and he learned a long time ago that if you keep poking at a cowpile it will keep on stinking.

 

[gutter]

I am going to lunch. Now don't let anything happen until I get back. You saw what you guys did last night when I turned my back. lol.

 

[vurbano]

I think ole JL is a country boy and he learned a long time ago that if you keep poking at a cowpile it will keep on stinking.

I thought the cowpile was JL

 

[jeslevine]

that he spends more time in the voom forum

Indeed what comment did I make? He does spend more time here. check posts vs Dish. That is his choice and I am not knocking him for that.

than in the dish forum. It just struck me as funny, even if that is not what you meant or I interpreted it wrong

No offense was meant, and it just gave me a laugh

 

[jnardone]

jnardone, on what basis do you say VOOM couldn't have added that many subs? I know first hand by the amount of receivers rolling out my door EVERY DAY that the subscriber count is easily at 46,000. We can and have handled the workload and are poised for additional growth. What most people don't realize and can't grasp is the VOOM's problem is how to manage growth and not where and how to find customers. I am in Florida, on of the battleground states for satellite and where VOOM is exploding and oh by the way D* is advertising HD like never before. Do you think that's coincidence? No, D* knows they better not rest or they will continue to lose subs.

My basis is that since there was no increase in VOOM revenue in Q4 all of the new subscribers had to have come in the last two months. That is 20,000 subscribers in two months with one of those months being AFTER VOOM announced that it had sold its satellite. Where did this sudden increase come from? There was no vast increase in VOOM marketing and no one has posted that the VOOM CSR's are handling 400 orders per day which is what they would have to be doing to have this rate of growth. In fact, it was big news when the CSR's were getting over 100 orders per day which put them barely over the minimum need to beat the churn rate.

 

[VMI]

Jnardone, You are assuming direct sales is the only way VOOM gets customers. In Florida alone we have BrandSmart and a number of independent dealers which drive a lot of the sales. Don't rely on CSR figures to try and figure out VOOM;s growth. Sales are growing every day in Florida and around the country, but like elections look at the key states and FL is one of them. In private conversations with dealers we estimated nationwide to be over 40k subs with no problem. Also, VOOM has tightened up quality control and the churn rate has slowed quite a bit.

 

[graphiteRT]

My basis is that since there was no increase in VOOM revenue in Q4 all of the new subscribers had to have come in the last two months. That is 20,000 subscribers in two months with one of those months being AFTER VOOM announced that it had sold its satellite. Where did this sudden increase come from? There was no vast increase in VOOM marketing and no one has posted that the VOOM CSR's are handling 400 orders per day which is what they would have to be doing to have this rate of growth. In fact, it was big news when the CSR's were getting over 100 orders per day which put them barely over the minimum need to beat the churn rate.

You can't fathom 400 installs per day in the US?? That could be done with a call center of no more than 10-15 operators working 8 hour shifts. I believe Voom uses an outside service for those calls, so it's pretty damn easy to ramp up as needed. Then fanning those out to hundreds, or probably thousands of installers nationwide. Where's the stretch in that thinking?

 

[Peter Parker]

I don't think that 20,000 subs in one quarter is all that "massive". And we don't know if that figure is as of 12/31 1/31 or 2/28 (est).

Even 46K subs is a pretty small number.

 

[HookedOnTV]

They need to get the DVR out (assuming they will actually be staying in business). This is supposed to be a high end service, that type of customer has had dvr's for years. E* and D* have the dvr's but don't have the content. V* has the content but not the dvr. It's all a matter of who comes through on their promises first.