doom for voom(ny post) monday we will know

[vurbano]

On the bright side they did triple membership from 8000 to 25000 in 2 months from April to June. But why end the free install? Thats gonna hurt them. Theres no way I would pay 200 bucks and own nothing, just to have some flunkie loser installer come out to my house? I could own a D* HD reciever for close to that and get it installed for free.

 

[vurbano]

What Cuban wants VOOM cannot provide yet. Perhaps when they new satellite space opens up. Cuban does not want his signal compressed.

just turn off moov. Voom has had the bandwidth since its inception. Voom had the bandwidth before Bravo HD was added, and they had it before TNTHD was added. The issue isnt bandwidth. FYI, both D* and E* compress the feed. Even a 19 mbps mpeg2 OTA HD signal is compressed. I believe D* and E* send it out at 15-16 mbps.

 

[riffjim4069]

Based on the growth numbers from April-June, VOOM had probably acquired up to 35k subs at the end of July...33,500 after Churn. It is quite possible for the active Subs to be hovering somewhere near 35k here at 9 Aug. This is still way below the 50-75k many of us were hoping for.

VOOM still needs to acquire 40k+ subs per month over the next 19 months in order to hit the break-even point. Just a couple points of agreement:

1. VOOM will be unsuccessful in attracting new customers, in the quantities needed, without offering free installation. Few people will cough up $200 when DirecTV and Dish Network do it for free.

2. If VOOM isn't going to allow customers to sell/install their own equipment, then they need to provide "free" rental equipment to all subscribers.

3. To reduce churn and recover a major portion of the installation and equipment costs, VOOM will need to enforce a 1 year contract. Of course, they will also need to fill-in the programming gaps as quickly as possible.

 

[vurbano]

Based on the growth numbers from April-June, VOOM had probably acquired up to 35k subs at the end of July...33,500 after Churn. It is quite possible for the active Subs to be hovering somewhere near 35k here at 9 Aug. This is still way below the 50-75k many of us were hoping for.

VOOM still needs to acquire 40k+ subs per month over the next 19 months in order to hit the break-even point. Just a couple points of agreement:

1. VOOM will be unsuccessful in attracting new customers, in the quantities needed, without offering free installation. Few people will cough up $200 when DirecTV and Dish Network do it for free.

2. If VOOM isn't going to allow customers to sell/install their own equipment, then they need to provide "free" rental equipment to all subscribers.

3. To reduce churn and recover a major portion of the installation and equipment costs, VOOM will need to enforce a 1 year contract. Of course, they will also need to fill-in the programming gaps as quickly as possible.

In agreement here. But a 6 month contract would be a selling point over d*. A contract that ends and a new one starts every 6 months if you wish to continue service.

 

[Bruce]

I do not think they(Voom) can afford Free installs anymore,and with the high churn rate they are burning too much money too quick,with the rental fee on the STB thats a little different,thats always money coming in(as long as you have the service)so with the rental fees and the other monthly fees that is Cash Flow and that looks good to investors(except they need a lot,lot more subs).

 

[mike123abc]

just turn off moov. Voom has had the bandwidth since its inception. Voom had the bandwidth before Bravo HD was added, and they had it before TNTHD was added. The issue isnt bandwidth. FYI, both D* and E* compress the feed. Even a 19 mbps mpeg2 OTA HD signal is compressed. I believe D* and E* send it out at 15-16 mbps.

Actually E* does not compress either of the 2 HDnet feeds. They sit on their own transponder with about 19.3 mbit/sec each. I suspect that you would find that DIRECTV has HDnet/HDmovies each on their own transponder with some SD channels thrown in without compression below 19.x mbit/sec.

Of course all HD is compressed. The issue is the satellite/cable provider recompressing the feed from HDnet down to even less bandwidth. This is something VOOM does not have at this time.

 

[riffjim4069]

I do not think they(Voom) can afford Free installs anymore,and with the high churn rate they are burning too much money too quick,with the rental fee on the STB thats a little different,thats always money coming in(as long as you have the service)so with the rental fees and the other monthly fees that is Cash Flow and that looks good to investors(except they need a lot,lot more subs).

Bruce,

I think the reality is that VOOM cannot afford not to offer free installation for the reasons noted above. The way to recover installation/equipment cost and reduce churn is to require a programming contract.

Jeez, I sure wish Satellite Services had enforced standards so all equipment---to include Satellite Ready TVs---were compatible regardless of the service provider.

Riff...<EOT>

 

[gutter]

What VOOM should do is make a deal with one or more HD set manufacturers and include a coupon for a free install and dish and one or 3 months of regular VOOM with every set sold.

 

[ChetK]

What VOOM should do is make a deal with one or more HD set manufacturers and include a coupon for a free install and dish and one or 3 months of regular VOOM with every set sold.

Now that's a good idea!

 

[Seawaves]

What VOOM should do is make a deal with one or more HD set manufacturers and include a coupon for a free install and dish and one or 3 months of regular VOOM with every set sold.

Adelphia is now doing just that with the HD cable deal, Voom would be smart to swipe this idea from Adelphia.

 

[vurbano]

Actually E* does not compress either of the 2 HDnet feeds. They sit on their own transponder with about 19.3 mbit/sec each. I suspect that you would find that DIRECTV has HDnet/HDmovies each on their own transponder with some SD channels thrown in without compression below 19.x mbit/sec.

Actually Sean Mota reported that E* was doing 17mbps for HDnet some months ago I believe, and recently reports from AVS were that E* was cramming the transponders full and reducing the HD quality. 3 per transponder I think. There were a couple of threads of complaints about the PQ of HDnet on Dish. Some even complained about HDnet http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=425446&perpage=20&pagenumber=3
I dont know if that situation has changed. I dont believe D* does Hdnet at 19.x mbs either.

Of course all HD is compressed. The issue is the satellite/cable provider recompressing the feed from HDnet down to even less bandwidth. This is something VOOM does not have at this time.

Of course Voom doesnt have the feed now. I wish they did have it. But its never been a bandwidth issue.

 

[Voomster]

Bigger Dish ok with Me !

I would be happy to have them install a bigger dish , they can add a rotor if they want to.... And while they are at it Paint the dish in Rainbow Colors bow for good free publicity for the company

When you consider the Alternatives --- which Voom has no Equal

And Comcast Cable commercials are showing that even their own Comcast sales force prefers Satellite over cable I suggest everyone enjoy Voom for as Long as possible while it last. :neener

Enjoy Voom ( HD TV's Future view ) for as long as a few of us are selectively intelligent enough to appreciate it esoteric value.

Voomster

 

[voom csr]

how big dish you talking?

Two larger dishes will be available. A 24 or a 30 inch dish. At this time availability is dependent on your location. They are focusing on areas, by zip code, (Louisiana has the most availability) where a larger dish would seem to be most beneficial. I've tried to push through a couple of large dish requests for areas that were not specified by Voom, but have no info on whether or not the requests were granted at this time.
Of course, this is per a memo received last week, so guidelines could've changed since then.

 

[PSB]

This is great news, the bigger dish will really help in some areas, IMO the bigger the better : )

 

[Kentstater72]

Voom CSR,
Is S.E Michigan or Toledo, Ohio a specified area?
I have another thread going on rain fade.