Rainbow Filed form 10 yesterday....big news!

[Seanb61]

here is an interesting quote from the SEC document "As of April 30, 2004, we had approximately 8,000 activated customers
and an additional 3,400 customers awaiting installation."


here is the link

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1289606/000095012304006138/y97206e10v12b.txt

another quote "In addition, on April 23, 2004, we entered into an agreement with
SES Americom, Inc. to lease 13 transponders as of October 1, 2004 and three
transponders as of January 1, 2005 on its Americom-6 satellite, which is located
at 72(degree) W.L. In certain circumstances we have the option of leasing three
additional transponders commencing on or prior to January 1, 2006 and five
additional transponders commencing on or prior to January 1, 2007. We intend to
use this transponder capacity to significantly increase the number of high
definition and standard definition channels we offer our subscribers beginning
in October 2004 when the lease commences. Because of the proximity of the
Americom-6 satellite to our existing Rainbow 1 satellite, which is located at
its 61.5(degree) W.L., our subscribers will be able to access the signal from
both satellites with a single elliptical satellite antenna that will be
approximately 35" wide by 20" high. This antenna is larger than the
approximately 18" antenna we have installed and are currently installing for our
customers. We expect to begin installing the new antennas before the October,
2004 transponder lease commencement date. We will offer a free switch over of
existing customers to the new antennas on a phased basis when they are
available."

 

[Seanb61]

More from the form 10 - We Could be Adversely Affected by Hardware and Software Problems

Following the launch of our VOOM(SM) service in October 2003, we
encountered operational problems with our satellite receivers. We believe that
most of these problems have been eliminated but, because our hardware and
software are new, we continue to encounter operational issues that need to be
addressed and resolved, and we expect that we will continue to encounter
problems in the future. In particular, it is likely that we will face
operational issues when we transition our compression technology from MPEG-2 to
MPEG-4, which is expected to occur later this year.

 

[vurbano]

This is blockbuster news! WM9 and more transponders. Yippieeeeeeee

 

[omard.]

I'm so glad I joined Voom they are a great company.

 

[vurbano]

I am reposting this over at AVS if you dont mind. Holy cow theres gonna be a lot more HD.

 

[DarrellP]

This is great news, I am turning into an HDAholic!!!!

 

[dtsfanohio]

Go VoOm!....

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I heard this news a few months ago from a friend at VOOM, and it was SO HARD to keep it quiet.

This is great news and I can't wait for October! (Although I am sure my wife will bitch at the size of the new dish)

Way to go VOOM!

 

[Sean Mota]

Yes Yes Yes Yes.........wow!!!

 

[Sean Mota]

Sean,

Great great great posting and finding. This is huge.....!!!!!

 

[Gator5000e]

This is great news. But my concern is how long can VOOM continue to bleed this kind of cash before it gives in to BK? Do the financials give any of you financial minded folks any idea of how long they can continue for?

Wonder when the new dishes will start being released?

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[squicken]

They better make sure everyone has a new dish before the transponders go active. Having second-class status will PO many of us.

 

[riffjim4069]

Great Post! Hmmm...I noticed an interesting tidbit in the Form 10 filing:

We also finalized program license deals for eight Turner
networks, including CNN, TNT and TCM, and four NBC networks, including Bravo, Bravo HD, CNBC and MSNBC.

According to Voom's Channel Lineup, they are currenly broadcast all eight (8) Turner Networks stations:
287 - TCM
402 - CNN
403 - CNN Headline News
404 - CNNfn
505 - TBS
506 - TNT
606 - Cartoon
607 - Boomerang

Since this contract was recently finalized in February, is it reasonable to conclude that we may not be see TNT-HD on VoOm as soon as we would like?

 

[Walter L.]

Cool The HD Revolution continues... VOOM!!!

 

[Ilya]

our subscribers will be able to access the signal from both satellites with a single elliptical satellite antenna that will be approximately 35" wide by 20" high. This antenna is larger than the approximately 18" antenna we have installed and are currently installing for our customers. We expect to begin installing the new antennas before the October, 2004 transponder lease commencement date. We will offer a free switch over of existing customers to the new antennas on a phased basis when they are available."

Well, I guess I don't have to rush upgrading my current 18" dish then!

 

[Walter L.]

Hopefully the new 35" dish will not be a problem here in the west coast. We do have problems pointing 30" dishes because of the low inclination angle (~11 deg.). I'm sure they will work it out.

 

[Seanb61]

Sean,

Great great great posting and finding. This is huge.....!!!!!

Thanks,

Spent all day trying to find this. I wasn't even sure that they had filed yet, but I knew it was coming before the end of the week.

Also the ticker for the stock will be RM.

 

[Sean Mota]

Here's the 72 DEG Sat...

<<AMC-6>>

<<AMC-6 (PDF)>>​

 

[Ken F]

This is great news. But my concern is how long can VOOM continue to bleed this kind of cash before it gives in to BK? Do the financials give any of you financial minded folks any idea of how long they can continue for?

DirecTV only recently began turning a profit. Dish Network bled cash every year from 1996 to 2003. Check that, they are still bleeding cash -- they lost $43 million last quarter.

That's not to say VOOM can withstand last eight years in the red, and they will need to sell their business plan to investors, but cash flow from other operations (cable channels) should keep them viable for at least the next year. Note I haven't taken a look at their numbers. But I do think the longer VOOM is around, the better their chances are for success, with the growing popularity of HDTV.

 

[Seanb61]

No LIL via Sat

for those of you wondering - "We currently provide all subscribers access to off-air digital
television broadcast signals through a tuner in our set top box combined with a
professionally installed off-air antenna. We will not be providing subscribers
access to any satellite-delivered broadcast signal."

And the solution to this problem is explained here

"Rainbow DBS also
invested $85 million, and owns a substantial interest in an entity that recently
acquired licenses from the FCC


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to provide multichannel video distribution and data service (MVDDS) in 46
metropolitan areas in the United States. These areas include the New York City
market, although it is uncertain whether the entity may exploit that license in
light of FCC cross-ownership restrictions. Rainbow DBS believes that these
frequencies could be used in conjunction with its satellite services to provide
local broadcast or other signals."

"other signals" means broadband internet