Box owners... who's left and what can we do?

[madpoet]

As a box owner, I'm wondering if I have any recourse against CVC. There was no chapter 11 here, they sold the assets and made my equipment worthless. I would have supported them to the bitter end, but instead they decided to sell out and be done with it. Fine. Give me my money back.

-MP

 

[Stargazer]

I figured thats what happened to the retailers that had the VoOm product. This is why I stayed clear away from selling VoOm plus they had no local channels when Dish and Direct did in my area.

 

[Bruce]

As a box owner, I'm wondering if I have any recourse against CVC. There was no chapter 11 here, they sold the assets and made my equipment worthless. I would have supported them to the bitter end, but instead they decided to sell out and be done with it. Fine. Give me my money back.

-MP

Did you not have a deal since you owned your box and when Voom went to a lease system they gave you programing for no charge for a while?

 

[sprite1741]

You don't have much recourse because E* now owns Voom, so E* will probably offer you a replacement box to recieve their service, if you elect to continue with them.

 

[madpoet]

I got a month free. I wasn't one of the original buyers . Otherwie I've paid the same as any other grandfathered sub. I'd be happy with the cost of the boxes minus what I would have spent to lease them (maybe $100).

-MP

 

[madpoet]

E* owns the sat... Voom is dead. And since I have no ability to receive E*'s service they can't offer me anything of value.

 

[MarcelV]

As a box owner, I'm wondering if I have any recourse against CVC. There was no chapter 11 here, they sold the assets and made my equipment worthless. I would have supported them to the bitter end, but instead they decided to sell out and be done with it. Fine. Give me my money back.

-MP

I guess the only thing we can do is try to raise a bunch of money, say 600 million and put a bid on the table.... OR in thirty years, this box becomes a collectors item and may be worth a lot of money. If both are not an option, I think we're out of luck and take the loss... I really lost a bunch. Signed up the forth week or so, so my box was $799. But I enjoyed and still enjoy Voom, and will enjoy it till they drop the signal. I really hope, the FCC will not allow the change of ownership on the spectrum and will try to create a 3 dbs market. There are just too many potential subscribers out there and the market shared between Echostar and DirecTV is just a lock-up and not in the best interest of the consumer. (Fairly fixed pricing). But that's just my humble opinion......

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

E* owns the sat... Voom is dead. And since I have no ability to receive E*'s service they can't offer me anything of value.

E* does NOT own the satellite, and might not own the satellite for another 9 months to a year depending on how fast they can get FCC approval, that is IF they can get FCC approval.

 

[MarcelV]

You don't have much recourse because E* now owns Voom, so E* will probably offer you a replacement box to recieve their service, if you elect to continue with them.

Sprite, E* didn't buy Voom, they just bought the satellite, spectrum and uplink center. Not Voom, not Voom 21, not the subscriber base. So, I highly doubt Charlie Ergen will offer the subscribers a deal.

 

[madpoet]

I phrased it incorrectly Scott... I should have said E* will own the satellite. I'm trying to say that the responsible party here remains CVC and not Echostar.

 

[Sean Mota]

Concern:

If they do take 3-9 months for the FCC to approve (or whatever it takes) what guarantee is there from VOOM that they will be offering new programming from the 21 exclusive channels. I know the premium channel will do it but I will find it very strange that they will continue investing in the 21 HD channels. In order to offer HD, you need to invest and pay bills. As good as the 21 HD channels has been (my opinion), I do not expect them to invest more on them unless they can get revenue.

Sure they can offer them to other providers but that is another topic. Concern is that they will not assure more new programming while everything is sort out. Why would they?

 

[bcope9]

Yea Charlie and the FCC don't often see eye to eye. But, they are not buying the service. Remember, the FCC approved D* buying P*. D* was the leader then and is now. This could be an chance for D* to do the same as what E* done when P* went down, free system to change over customers.

 

[MarcelV]

Concern:
Concern is that they will not assure more new programming while everything is sort out. Why would they?

There is anothern concern. If Cablevision already agreed to sell just some of their assets, why would they keep the Voom service alive? There's really no depreciation of the assets if they decide to pull the plug tomorrow....

 

[Sean Mota]

This is very clear. Unless you want to give them your money from now on (for nothing) it is not worthy. I am making installation process for an HD DVR tomorrow (from James Dolan ). As soon the HD DVR arrives, dropping the service because there will be no service to go to. Lower the value of my E* to just HD pack will be enough to cover all the HD out there without VOOM.

 

[jame_g]

E* does NOT own the satellite, and might not own the satellite for another 9 months to a year depending on how fast they can get FCC approval, that is IF they can get FCC approval.

I'm wondering why the "IF"? With Cablevision announcing that they will sell or shut down Voom, the huge losses and small customer base Voom has, there's little reason for the FCC to deny this sale.

All 3 of these companies were buying additional satellites and frequencies to increase capacity anyway, and the FCC has been approving this. D* is bigger than E*. E* is not buying Voom and it's customers. In cases like this from what I can tell the FCC usually approves the sale of satellites/ frequencies, etc since it has no negative impact on the situation. Just trying to understand where the "IF" is coming from...

 

[rtt2]

FCC process timeline:

http://www.fcc.gov/transaction/timeline.html

 

[joemama]

Cry?

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

I felt compelled to cross-post my reaction to all of this:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?p=285310#post285310

After the dust settles I am going to write Dolan sr and thank him for the noble experiment.

And unless Voom (or something like it) comes back to life, this IS my final post in this forum.

Best wishes to all.

 

[Stargazer]

If someone does not pay their last programming bills before a company shuts down such as this then could someone get away without paying for them if they file bankruptcy or shut down in this manner? Perhaps sell the debt that is owed to another company if they are smart enough to do so?

 

[madpoet]

And now we have to revive this thread. We box owners DO have rights. I urge everyone who owns a box to make your voice heard and demand compensation. CVC isn't bankrupt.