JimP said:
They tried to spin it off and found that "demand" was less than expected. Yeah, they couldn't find any idiots that would take the "assets" which acted more like liabilities.
Your statement just doesn't make any sense. Profits flattened out BECAUSE V* was burning through $1 billion a year. Their cable systems and broadband services are making money. V* is not. In order for the venture to even have a CHANCE of succeeding they needed at least a million subscribers at this point to show that they were moving in the right direction and were moving towards closing the gap and make the unit self sustaining. I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but let's say that they burned through $5 billion up to this point trying to get this thing off the ground. Assuming a "generous" 50,000 current subscriber base (I had last heard 27,000 but let's say that XMas was "good" to them for argument's and they almost doubled their subscribers). That means that they spent $100,000 per subscriber. As in 5 zeroes, to generate, let's say an average of $50 a month. That projects out to TOTAL revenue of $30,000,000 a year. Factor in continuing variable programming costs, employee salaries, and whatever other expenses are there and you've got a giant sucking sound more powerful than a black hole. Figure each subscriber they add continues to cost them anywhere from $500 if they got to E* or D*'s level to a more likely $2500 cost per subscriber right now in advertising costs and the numbers simply do not add up.
I'm sorry, I don't mean to dance on the bones before the body pitches forward, but there is NO way Dolan will risk his own money to bankrupt himself in trying to keep this thing going ESPECIALLY since he no longer owns the satellite. This is another case of a pioneer getting shot in the back by an arrow by getting into a new frontier before the market is ready. There simply aren't enough HD sets out there (and the majority of the ones out there are still content to merely watch DVDs or play XBox games on them). Hey, maybe Dolan WILL burn through his own money to keep it operating, as he tries to reduce the inheritance of his son who challenged him. I don't see it happening though.
Look for a fairly orderly transition period until the sale goes through. Worst case, the channels go dark next month. Best case, 90 days after the satellite sale is approved by the FCC.
Well...two points and one strategy for Donan Sr. 
She could've cared less about the PQ or a show that was PVR's. She didn't even want me to pause a DVD if the phone rang or she went to do something for a few minutes, it just wasn't important to her. Me, on the other hand, I have to hear every word in a movie. My roommate has learned to shut up when I am watching a show or he is severely chastised. 
