My two cents
Lots of good insights, Ladies and Gents.
But nobody has come out and clarified that the question ("Where the heck are all the subs?") is really a two-part question:
1. Why aren't new people signing up for VOOM?
and...
2. Why don't existing subs KEEP VOOM for very long?
Most of what has been discussed falls into question catagory #2. Picture quality? OTA problems? Pricing grumbles? Buggy software? These are things you don't find out until you are already a subscriber. My OTA antenna is my number one complaint, but OTA didn't factor into my initial purchasing decision once the Sears guy "pe-shawed" me, lied, and said that I'd get locals just fine with the second antenna.
I posit, in order, the reasons why NEW subscribers aren't moving to VOOM.
#1 98% of HDTV owners don't know that it exists.
#2 Market penetration of D* and E* is formidable. Which dovetails to...
#3 Customer looking at VOOM brochure: "They don't have my favorite channel that I get on D* or E*."
The single greatest opportunity that VOOM has to move a customer off of D* or E* will happen THE DAY THAT CUSTOMER BUYS A NEW HDTV. Nesting instinct. You all remember that day, don't you? You bought the ridiculously overpriced $70 Monster cables for your beautiful new baby, when you could have bought the same thing for $12??? You thought about upgrading your old surround system? Maybe you upgraded to a progressive scan DVD player while you were in the store?
Simply put, abso-freakin'-lutely indisputable... Voom MUST be offered at Best Buy and Circuit City, where 70% of the population buys their next HDTV.
There's an old axiom among salesmen that it takes 10 times more money to switch a new customer to your product for the first time than it does to keep an existing customer buying your product. And this is the shape of the specter of corporate death that is extending it's boney finger toward the doors of Rainbow DBS headquarters.
Lots of good insights, Ladies and Gents.
But nobody has come out and clarified that the question ("Where the heck are all the subs?") is really a two-part question:
1. Why aren't new people signing up for VOOM?
and...
2. Why don't existing subs KEEP VOOM for very long?
Most of what has been discussed falls into question catagory #2. Picture quality? OTA problems? Pricing grumbles? Buggy software? These are things you don't find out until you are already a subscriber. My OTA antenna is my number one complaint, but OTA didn't factor into my initial purchasing decision once the Sears guy "pe-shawed" me, lied, and said that I'd get locals just fine with the second antenna.
I posit, in order, the reasons why NEW subscribers aren't moving to VOOM.
#1 98% of HDTV owners don't know that it exists.
#2 Market penetration of D* and E* is formidable. Which dovetails to...
#3 Customer looking at VOOM brochure: "They don't have my favorite channel that I get on D* or E*."
The single greatest opportunity that VOOM has to move a customer off of D* or E* will happen THE DAY THAT CUSTOMER BUYS A NEW HDTV. Nesting instinct. You all remember that day, don't you? You bought the ridiculously overpriced $70 Monster cables for your beautiful new baby, when you could have bought the same thing for $12??? You thought about upgrading your old surround system? Maybe you upgraded to a progressive scan DVD player while you were in the store?
Simply put, abso-freakin'-lutely indisputable... Voom MUST be offered at Best Buy and Circuit City, where 70% of the population buys their next HDTV.
There's an old axiom among salesmen that it takes 10 times more money to switch a new customer to your product for the first time than it does to keep an existing customer buying your product. And this is the shape of the specter of corporate death that is extending it's boney finger toward the doors of Rainbow DBS headquarters.