Speculation going on concerning Voom21

[lilyarbie]

There's been plenty of speculation that Voom21 may continue to thrive on Rainbow-1 after the shutdown and be in the "clear." It does make sense in some way because of the fact that there have been rumors about Echostar now wanting Voom's programming after obtaining their satellite. It would be much easier to make the transition by keeping the channels on the satellite while it's up there. Another thing is that Voom's contracts with other programming providers (showtime, VH-1, history channels, etc.) probably ends at the end of this month, which is part of the reason for Voom shutting down on April 30th. The only thing I would see to keep Voom21 up on Rainbow-1 function is the costs involved in the process. I would doubt that Cablevision would continue to throw money at the programming operation to just keep 21 channels up and running on a satellite that won't be theirs in a few months.

 

[HDwonderer]

Who knows

I seem to remember that E* who does not own rainbow-1 yet, has said that they will not be adding anymore HD this year. They need the space for there current programing and any additional SD channels. But then you could be right that they may be holding and ace and will show it later. Or maybe not....heck who really knows.

-scott

 

[ksload]

I believe that they said no more HD until MPEG4...which would be fall or later. I would be happy if they added UniversalHD, CinemaxHD, TMCHD, and StarzHD.

 

[James Long]

There's been plenty of speculation that Voom21 may continue to thrive on Rainbow-1 after the shutdown and be in the "clear." It does make sense in some way because of the fact that there have been rumors about Echostar now wanting Voom's programming after obtaining their satellite. It would be much easier to make the transition by keeping the channels on the satellite while it's up there.

It is unlikely that Voom21 will continue to be uplinked to R1 after Saturday. If any cable systems (or others) pick up the service "Rainbow 2" (AMC-6) stands ready to provide them a signal.

IIRC there are legal problem with providing 'feeds' to cable systems over transponders licensed for DBS. Plus the cable providers can more easily add the 'permanent' location of AMC-6 to their systems than add a temporary position now and change it later.

If Echostar picks up any programming from Voom they might work out an uplink deal to save the cost of ground transmission to E*'s uplink. But a deal with E* is months away. E* has clearly said that they don't want a lot of new HD customers until the MPEG-4 conversion 'late this year'.

Plus the way that Voom put the channels up mixed SD channels on the same transponders as HD channels. All the SD is going away, as well as the rebroadcast of non-Voom21 channels. The Voom 21 channels 'left in place' would be spread across several transponders. Not what is needed by E*.

JL

 

[T2k]

Since Monsters' website has already removed all the Voom brandings but lists TimeWarner and Adelphia only as cable provider when you try to join the site, it's not far fetched that perhaps TW will be one of the new homes of some Voom exclusives...







/me keeps even toe fingers crossed due to the fact just ordered TWCNYC...