DuelingDolans.com: A Family Saga
By Shirley Brady
The boardroom isn't the only arena in which Chuck Dolan and his son Jim have been wrestling over the fate of Cablevision's Voom satellite service. The battle rages on the Web as well, and it ain't pretty:
March 1: Cablevision CEO Jim Dolan decides to close Voom. Layoff notices are sent to Voom employees. Voom.com posts the message: "Voom has ceased taking new customer orders and will shut down by the end of March." Subscribers ask if the website had been hacked, while clueless CSRs continue taking customer orders. At 6 p.m., Voom's HDNews service reports that Voom is shutting down and its sister service Moov switches to colored test bars--in HD. Two outsourced websites, Voom.custhelp.com and Voom-HD.tv, remain live.
March 2: Cablevision chairman Chuck Dolan and his son Tom launch Voomllc.com, shortly after Voom.com is shut down, with the message: "Voom still delivers--Period!" Voomllc.com urges visitors to sign up for a special $1 installation deal covering up to three rooms. That same day, Chuck "strengthens" the Cablevision board with Dr. John Malone, Frank Biondi, Leonard Tow and Rand Araskog.
March 3: ARTSTAR.TV records the progress of Voom's reality series, Artstar, which started shooting casting calls March 1 in New York. Eager to appear on the series, hundreds of artists show up for casting calls at the Deitch Gallery in Soho and monitor the Artstar website for details.
March 5: Voom subscriber Bryan French launches JimDolanSucks.com. Billed as the online home of "Voomers United Against Cablevision and Incompetent CEOs," its graphics include a voodoo doll with Jim's head. Meanwhile, Voomllc.com links to Voom.com, which has been restored to its previous functionality.
http://www.cableworld.com/cgi/cw/show_mag.cgi?pub=cw&mon=040405&file=duelingdolanscom.htm
By Shirley Brady
The boardroom isn't the only arena in which Chuck Dolan and his son Jim have been wrestling over the fate of Cablevision's Voom satellite service. The battle rages on the Web as well, and it ain't pretty:
March 1: Cablevision CEO Jim Dolan decides to close Voom. Layoff notices are sent to Voom employees. Voom.com posts the message: "Voom has ceased taking new customer orders and will shut down by the end of March." Subscribers ask if the website had been hacked, while clueless CSRs continue taking customer orders. At 6 p.m., Voom's HDNews service reports that Voom is shutting down and its sister service Moov switches to colored test bars--in HD. Two outsourced websites, Voom.custhelp.com and Voom-HD.tv, remain live.
March 2: Cablevision chairman Chuck Dolan and his son Tom launch Voomllc.com, shortly after Voom.com is shut down, with the message: "Voom still delivers--Period!" Voomllc.com urges visitors to sign up for a special $1 installation deal covering up to three rooms. That same day, Chuck "strengthens" the Cablevision board with Dr. John Malone, Frank Biondi, Leonard Tow and Rand Araskog.
March 3: ARTSTAR.TV records the progress of Voom's reality series, Artstar, which started shooting casting calls March 1 in New York. Eager to appear on the series, hundreds of artists show up for casting calls at the Deitch Gallery in Soho and monitor the Artstar website for details.
March 5: Voom subscriber Bryan French launches JimDolanSucks.com. Billed as the online home of "Voomers United Against Cablevision and Incompetent CEOs," its graphics include a voodoo doll with Jim's head. Meanwhile, Voomllc.com links to Voom.com, which has been restored to its previous functionality.
http://www.cableworld.com/cgi/cw/show_mag.cgi?pub=cw&mon=040405&file=duelingdolanscom.htm
