Mikey Fremer's take on the VOOM story.

[James Long]

Like JL, you keep calling this unverified.

Incorrect. I stopped calling it unverified when it was "verified" in the 10K (a subscriber count of 40k as of Feb 28th). Until then it WAS unverified.

This has been on the Net for 3 full weeks now:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050228/nym238_1.html
It was posted in a thread in this very Forum. Unless you feel Tom Dolan is lying to the press, what's unverified about the number?

That was the FIRST time any such number was quoted, and as confirmed by the 10K was OFF by 6k customers (15%). Lying to the press? Those are your words and if that is what you want to call misinformation then I won't stop you. But I believe that he made an error.

There was only one other 'source' of a current number and it was an unnamed source in a single newspaper. We went 2 1/2 week with only two casual mentions of a number (a number that turned out to be exagerated by Tom Dolan). The confusion over subscriber count is ENTIRELY Voom's fault for not making the number clear and public sooner. PR is just another thing Voom does wrong!

Any PR from Voom on the new channels added over the past weeks? Why not? D* and E* are constantly putting out releases when they add to their programming (even if it is an odd market's locals or some obscure international channel). V* doesn't seem to be able to do a simple PR.

JL

 

[graphiteRT]

Incorrect. I stopped calling it unverified when it was "verified" in the 10K (a subscriber count of 40k as of Feb 28th). Until then it WAS unverified.That was the FIRST time any such number was quoted, and as confirmed by the 10K was OFF by 6k customers (15%). Lying to the press? Those are your words and if that is what you want to call misinformation then I won't stop you. But I believe that he made an error.

Dog with a bone sure fits. Did you notice the 10k says approximately? Care to address that one Mr. Spin Doctor?

Did you notice that when D* quotes HD subs in their CC that they use nice round figures of 500k HD subs and 25k HD Tivo subscribers? You think those numbers are spot on or just estimated? Maybe it's time to wake up and smell the coffee. A number in a SEC filing is not the gospel, it's a rough estimate.

There was only one other 'source' of a current number and it was an unnamed source in a single newspaper. We went 2 1/2 week with only two casual mentions of a number (a number that turned out to be exagerated by Tom Dolan). The confusion over subscriber count is ENTIRELY Voom's fault for not making the number clear and public sooner. PR is just another thing Voom does wrong!

In an interview with Tom Dolan, a high level Executive at Cablevisions, former slated CEO for the Voom spinoff, current CEO of Voom HD, LLC who is trying to buy the remaining assets of Voom. Does anyone with more than a couple of brain cells really think he wouldn't know the numbers?

Any PR from Voom on the new channels added over the past weeks? Why not? D* and E* are constantly putting out releases when they add to their programming (even if it is an odd market's locals or some obscure international channel). V* doesn't seem to be able to do a simple PR.

JL

PRs about BS 1500 channel capability and promised HD content which never materializes? If that gives you a warm a fuzzy, more power to ya. Maybe Voom should do a knockoff of the worthless "Charlie Chats" where one can listen to Ergan do even more double talking than certain members of this Forum.

 

[James Long]

Dog with a bone sure fits. Did you notice the 10k says approximately?

OK, E* has 13 million and D* 17 million. V* has 34 thousand customers. All "approximately" under your rules, of course.

Does anyone with more than a couple of brain cells really think he wouldn't know the numbers?

I believe he made a MISTAKE. He's human. It is possible to make mistakes. He mentioned the wrong figure.

JL

 

[John Kotches]

And the article predates the 10K filing by several weeks.

Do you people understand this?

 

[cfarm]

And the article predates the 10K filing by several weeks.

Do you people understand this?

The date which the article was written doesn't matter. It's a sloppy piece of journalism. $75 million is mentioned, not once, but twice. Who launches a satellite these days for $75 million?

You then went on to focus on the sub number again. The naysayers sure do like to hold onto dated information. You ask on 3/19 whether any updated numbers are out there and there have been two articles in the last 3 weeks. So who's not paying attention here?

Finally, Fremer goes on to use phrases like, "....one of the greatest failures of the imagination in consumer electronics history" and "...makes it a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. " Geez, and I thought the anti-Voom drama queens were all here!

Voom isn't done yet, in case you hadn't noticed. Obviously Fremer missed that one.

 

[John Kotches]

cfarm:

That's my point exactly. Pick on the things that were completely wrong when written. Subscriber count was accurate (as publically available when it was written/published/posted).

As I said before, I'm not exactly a fan of Fremer's and I write for a competing publication.

I don't sit around scouring the net for things like 10K filings. I'm glad that others have time for that.

Cheers,

 

[James Long]

I don't sit around scouring the net for things like 10K filings. I'm glad that others have time for that.

They are not hard to find. Cablevision's are linked off of their website.

FCC filings are a little harder to find, although since the public notice finding the proceding for the sale of Rainbow1 to Echostar became much easier.

JL

 

[John Kotches]

Yes, but I don't go around looking at corporate financials.

Corporate financials don't interest me as much as technology does.

Cheers,

 

[Tvlman]

Attention HDDoc: This just in: "Lindbergh in Paris!" "Japanese Surrender!"

 

[screech]

Voom Doomers......... bite me

 

[hddoc]

Attention HDDoc: This just in: "Lindbergh in Paris!" "Japanese Surrender!"

"Oh ye of little faith..."

Yes, I knew the article was outdated when I posted it. However, I thought Mikey's forward looking perspective would be a refreshing one, especially with all the visionless Wall Street and popular press doom and gloomers out there.

Mikey supports the highest quality technologies be it SACD, HDTV, Apple, or even vinyl.

 

[hddoc]

cfarm:



As I said before, I'm not exactly a fan of Fremer's and I write for a competing publication.

Shame on you, Kotches! Are you really trying to compare the quality of your craft and reputation to that of Mike Fremer?

Not to mention the "publication" you write for, famous for an industry shill of an owner/editor who solicits equipment that never gets returned.