Cablevision agrees to end Voom

[Andrew B]

WOW. Drama, drama, drama. This forum is great, but sometimes Ignorance is truly bliss. Just think of all those VOOMers who are just sitting at home watching HDTV (unaware of this news). They are enjoying their service without all the stress of thinking it will be gone any second.
Like it has been said here already, we REALLY don't know anything at this point. Most of us want VOOM to succeed, some don't. Any news we read tends to have the bias of the author. Remember that. For those that have given up and expect the (VOOM) world to end, just forget about this stuff and go enjoy the shows you are paying for. My signal is still coming loud and very clear. Currently enjoying 'Blood: The Last Vampire' on the Action network. Love that Anime!

Time, as always, will tell.
Since we have absolutely no control over it, I choose not to stress.
(But I WILL keep reading to see what's up - this is more addicting than crack)

Voom on,

Andrew

 

[kfried001]

WOW. Drama, drama, drama. This forum is great, but sometimes Ignorance is truly bliss. Just think of all those VOOMers who are just sitting at home watching HDTV (unaware of this news). They are enjoying their service without all the stress of thinking it will be gone any second.
Like it has been said here already, we REALLY don't know anything at this point. Most of us want VOOM to succeed, some don't. Any news we read tends to have the bias of the author. Remember that. For those that have given up and expect the (VOOM) world to end, just forget about this stuff and go enjoy the shows you are paying for. My signal is still coming loud and very clear. Currently enjoying 'Blood: The Last Vampire' on the Action network. Love that Anime!

Time, as always, will tell.
Since we have absolutely no control over it, I choose not to stress.
(But I WILL keep reading to see what's up - this is more addicting than crack)

Voom on,

Andrew

Andrew, Great point. I have been with VOOM since Oct '03, once of the very first customers. BUT, Chuck just voted to shut VOOM down. I think he just wants an way to sell VOOM 21. With Cablevision + Aldephia that is about 6.5 million homes. How long would it take VOOM to go from 40K to 6.5 Mill.

I really have been hopeful all along, but I think it is finally over. It sucks because I purchased 4 receivers in '03.

But I did get upgraded to an amplified wineguard 822 at no charge so that should be work a couple of hundred $$$'s I think.

 

[salsadancer7]

Folks...forget about Adelphia, according to news reports, there is ALREADY deal between Comcast/Time Warner and the judge overseeing the backruptsy of Adelphia....

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050408/media_nm/media_adelphia_dc_4

 

[stevesmall]

Okay, i am not just a customer, i am a retailer. My company is in no worries about this. VOOM is the only satellite service we retail and install. Do you think i would not watch closely the fate of my business.

I would hope you would watch closely, but in the end the retailer would be the last 2 know, i hope voom stays alive but i would go talk to D or E and see if you could line up some work, in fact i would have done that a few months ago. I would be willing to bet there are not many dealers out there that only do Voom and nothing else. I am in the business also and know quite a few others in the s jersey, pennsylvania, del area and no one does Voom alone. OR DID Voom Alone
GOOD LUCK

 

[kfried001]

What's hard to believe is that the vote was unanimous to shut down Voom. After all the struggle, and changing board members, and everything...not even waiting to find out how the FCC rules.

Is there more to the story? I hope so...

This is just a thought. Chuck brought in his trusted friends who may have pursuaded him that he can't be another Sattelite company up agains d* and E*, they have too much of a head-start. What will probably be more profitable they think is selling the programming to Sat and cable providers. Well, I don't think they are going to allocate the bandwidth for it, so where are all these great movies that were transfered to HD going to go?

We all say you don't quit after one year. Well, I think they thought that after 1-1/2 years they would have hit at least 200K subs. What they are not taking into account was that there was noone watching the helm at VOOM, the faulty equipment, early proramming sucked so VOOM got a bad rap in the begining. It is really as if the begining of VOOM started Jan 1 '05. Plus we have no DVR, even crappy COx cable has a dual tuner HD DVR with a 250GB HD.

They probably extrapolated the future subscriber rate and thought it would take too long to break even. But are they taking into account that HD is now catching on. You can't buy anything but (almost) these days.

COX cable has locals in HD, HBO, Showtime, StarZ, Cinemax, UHD, DiscoverHD, ESPNHD, Inhd 1 & 2. I could have D* for HD NFL TIcket and HDnet/Movies. So what is missing out of this combo tht is really good.

1) Cinema 10's
2) Rush (could be a lot better)
3) Rave (concerts on Inhd1 & 2 and Hdnet are better), you can watch Soundstage on PBS
4) Monsters
5) Worldsport

And the commitment to keep ading all HD channels when they come out. IF VOOM really goes, this country has taken a major step backwards in the competition for HD. But at least there are some alternative for some.

Also, I never complained about picture quality, but tonight I was watching Equator and I thought it sucked big time. Guy-TV loooked good and Monsters looked great. TMCHD looked awesome.

On cable the locals look like crap. The premium movies are OK. Inhd1 & 2 and DIscHD are awesome, the rest are marginal.

What I don't understand is sending out mailings saying pricing is going down, we are adding all these new channels etc... for what??? Oh and Tom Dolan must be real secure about himself to do a complete about face withing 2 weeks of saying "we eill fight to the death" ;-) Just daddy's puppet. At least Jim took a stance and stuck with it. I would have expected a 15-2 vote, worst case. But 15-0, WOW.

Sorry about the long thread and ramblings, just venting.

 

[jmd102354]

I have lived in the Newsday area for 40 years now. I have read Newsday constantly, and they would not report a bogus story. This is not the NY Post that always has a bunch of nonsense. I know this Harry Berkowitz (Newsday writer) very well. He would not print this if it was not true.

.

Wow , sounds like this Berkowitz guy is a saint.
Before I trust ANY newspaper reporter I have to see and hear the PROOF.

 

[rtt2]

April 08, 2005 06:17 ET (10:17 GMT)
8 Apr 2005 06:17 ET *DJ Cablevision: Voom Service Availability To End April 30
(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires

April 08, 2005 06:11 ET (10:11 GMT)
8 Apr 2005 06:11 ET *DJ Cablevision: Has Begun Voom Service Shut Down Steps
(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires


April 08, 2005 06:07 ET (10:07 GMT)
8 Apr 2005 06:07 ET +DJ Cablevision: Mgmt To Analyze Mkting Of Voom Channels
(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires

 

[rtt2]

Cablevision to Close Voom Satellite TV Service
Fri Apr 8, 2005 06:16 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cablevision Systems Corp. on Friday said it has gone ahead with its plan to close its Rainbow DBS unit, which operates the Voom satellite television service.
Voom will cease to be available to customers on April 30, the company said. Cablevision said it will continue to look into the possibility of selling Voom's TV channels.

 

[rtt2]

8 Apr 2005 06:50 ET DJ Cablevision: Voom Service Availability To End April 30




WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC) disclosed Friday that service for its Voom satellite-television operations will cease to be available April 30.

The cable company confirmed its decision to shut down Voom and provided management with specific directives on shut down implementation Thursday, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cablevision said management has begun implementing shut down steps.

Cablevison's board instructed management to continue to analyze whether its Voom 21 channels can be marketed to other satellite and cable providers as part of its Rainbow programming operations, the filing said.

As reported last month, Cablevision entered into an agreement with Chairman Charles F. Dolan and Thomas C. Dolan, a director of the company, to work cooperatively to finalize the separation of Voom from the company. That agreement terminated March 31.

Since then all expenditures of Voom have been funded by Cablevision, according to the filing.

-By Chad Clinton, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-1349; chad.clinton@dowjones.com

 

[Geno]

Farewell VOOM. Thanks to Sean and Scott for all their hard work.

Geno

 

[calikarim]

It's Not Over Yet

Dolan would not go out not fighting, after all the rollercoaster actions and decisions he has made in favor of voom . Cablevision may dissolve voom, but he is going to carry voom after the legal demise, in a new form, new name etc. I know something is in the works, says the grapevine.

Voom has 9 lives maybe 10. It won't go away

 

[JimP]

Cablevision didn't get Adelphia.

Wonder if that changes anything with Voom's future(immediate or otherwise).

 

[warper]

The part I don't understand is have not seen Scott chime in here once.
He has been saying all along to wait. We have waited. Does he still
know something we don't. He has been very quiet about this one.

 

[niceprophet]

Read the 8-k

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1053112/000089183605000220/sc0103.htm

 

[philcrocetti]

HOA and dish

I'm with ya. Wish I could convince the hoa to let me put up a BUD.

Wayne

A bit off topic here... but it's my understanding the hoa can't prevent you from installing a dish. Have you looked at the FCC document?

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

 

[vurbano]

The question is has Dolan secured a deal that Voom can operate under without Cablevision. We all knew eventually Cablevision would shut down their operations of Voom. Why else would C Dolan vote to shut it down?

 

[JimP]

A bit off topic here... but it's my understanding the hoa can't prevent you from installing a dish. Have you looked at the FCC document?

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

The fcc reg that overrules home owner association rules, covenants only applies to satellite dish smaller than 1 meter. I'm not aware of any buds that are that small. If you know otherwise, please post.

 

[Jamey K]

The question is has Dolan secured a deal that Voom can operate under without Cablevision. We all knew eventually Cablevision would shut down their operations of Voom. Why else would C Dolan vote to shut it down?

Exactly! This is not a surprize. We all knew this was coming and here it is. There is more to this than we know now.

Hopefully when Scott and Sean get up and around today, we'll find some more.

 

[Bruce]

The question is has Dolan secured a deal that Voom can operate under without Cablevision. We all knew eventually Cablevision would shut down their operations of Voom. Why else would C Dolan vote to shut it down?

Read the new 8-K, if that was true that would be in the report, but it says in quite plan-shutdown-not a sale.

 

[John Kotches]

If I'm reading the 8K properly, the only part of Rainbow DBS that might survive is the "Voom 21" channels. Everything else that is Voom looks like it is going to be shut down.

So, if the Voom satellite service shuts down on April 30, does this change the timeline for the FCC review of the sale? Also, could they upload the Dish encryption algorithm and begin broadcasting all channels currently uplinked to the V* bird ASAP so that E* customers could pick up the unique channels immediately?

Cheers,