The NEXT HURDLE - 3/31/05

[r.jones1116]

vurbano- I've seen you post this pessimism over and over and over in many threads. It is obvious that with repeated explanation, you just don't seem to grasp the difference. So, let me try with an analogy-

There is a switch on a VOOM light that is to be thrown to off position with a timer set to trigger on March 31st 2005.

Now in case 1 the timer was set and NOBODY is allowed to mess with the timer to prevent it from shutting down on March 31st. This is a guaranteed event.

In Case 2 the same timer is accessable now to Charles and Tom Dolan to go in with a plan to stop that timer from shutting off the light on March 31st.


I agree with you that the date and timer is still there and ticking away. But you need to understand that there is a significant difference in that now, two people have the opportunity to prevent that timer from tripping.

The hurdle is indeed different because now Dolan's have the blessing of the Board to go after a plan with vigor while before they had to risk doing this without the boards permission which looked like a conflict of interest and not doing what the board decided. That was the point of the letter last week. For the next 3 weeks Dolans may do what they need to do without interferrence from the Son James or the other board members.

Will they be able to pull it off? Now that is a question worth discussion but your fixation that there has been nothing different with this new plan is just not so. If you still can't figure this out then I suggest you take leave of this forum for about 21 days and just go watch your VOOM channels, come back and find out what happened.


________________

To those who are fixed on the misconception that VOOM is DOOMED because E* has an agreement to buy the uplink and bird and get the licenses- Consider this- You have no clue as to the satellite technology and options that are possible. You don't know how to think creatively a.k.a. out of the box. You are in the same camp as those a few years ago that claimed D* could not squeeze any more HDTV channels than their PPV and demo channel. Back then you people couldn't think creatively and you still can't today. But not to worry, there are plenty of creative thinkers that will keep the planet spinning for you so why not just sit back and enjoy the fruits of their gift to you and stop worrying that the last innovation possible was thought up yesterday!

Now that's good thinking! Down right impressive!

 

[erron]

I don't know if anyone has presented this scenario yet...but I will agian if they have. The agreement to sell the rainbow-1 and uplink center is in principal right now. It hasn't been approved yet by the SEC. NOW...I bet they wil wait and see what happens here. And if Dolan gets control of the whole company...maybe he can decide not to sell the satellite and uplink center? I dunno if thats possible....but it makes sense to me.

 

[EricTheRed]

Chances rise of cable sale to fund Voom

Chances rise of cable sale to fund Voom
By Aline van Duyn in New York
Published: March 9 2005 18:54 | Last updated: March 9 2005 18:54

Cablevision's shares rose on Wednesday on growing expectations that the company's cable assets will be sold by its founder, Charles Dolan, to finance the loss-making Voom satellite service.

Mr Dolan, known as Chuck, last week replaced board members who had sided with his son James in opposing plans for the Voom business. James Dolan wants to shut the operation down, while Mr Dolan and another son, Thomas, the company's chief information officer, want to keep it going.

Source:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/fa60cef4-90ca-11d9-9980-00000e2511c8.html
The rest of the article is for subscribers only.

 

[cfarm]

Don't think the planned sale could be reversed now without a substantial penalty to CVC/Rainbow/Voom. Not sure it needs to be scuttled anyway.

Echostar has already stated "no definitive plans" for the new satellite. They have an aging unit in the same orbital slot that needs to be replaced. Getting approval for the licenses or transferring the existing ones may take well into next year, depending upon the time it takes the FCC to hand down decisions. Perhaps Dolan Sr. negioates a deal to carry Voom status quo on a lease until an alternative can be arranged, either a new satellite or dish replacement/re-aims to pick signals off another satellite.

Lots of possibilities still.

 

[ericl]

I like Voom, I like my 50" Sony, its a good match, I dont want to see Voom go down the tubes. For my two cents, I read an article that stated Voom lost over 6 million dollars last year and had 50,000 subscribers. If they all paid the $50.00/month like me that's 30,000,000.00/year. A 20% increase in sales would put them back into the black this is very achievable.

I stand to lose some nice P.Q. and the dollar installation charge.
Everything else is rented.

 

[cfarm]

I like Voom, I like my 50" Sony, its a good match, I dont want to see Voom go down the tubes. For my two cents, I read an article that stated Voom lost over 6 million dollars last year and had 50,000 subscribers. If they all paid the $50.00/month like me that's 30,000,000.00/year. A 20% increase in sales would put them back into the black this is very achievable.

I stand to lose some nice P.Q. and the dollar installation charge.
Everything else is rented.

At the current burn rate, they probably lost more than $6 million last week rather than last year.

The article sounds like it was a little short on research and rather loose with the facts.

 

[ericl]

Just stated what I read, not speculation, overhead should not be changing, if anything going down.

 

[niceprophet]

You are off by about a factor of 100... VOOM lost about 600 million last year.

 

[kvchief]

How bad is it that, VOOM supporter or not, the real deadline appears to be March 31st?

I mean, how many posts are we really going to be able to believe on April 1st!

 

[vurbano]

vurbano- I've seen you post this pessimism over and over and over in many threads. It is obvious that with repeated explanation, you just don't seem to grasp the difference. So, let me try with an analogy-

There is a switch on a VOOM light that is to be thrown to off position with a timer set to trigger on March 31st 2005.

Now in case 1 the timer was set and NOBODY is allowed to mess with the timer to prevent it from shutting down on March 31st. This is a guaranteed event.

In Case 2 the same timer is accessable now to Charles and Tom Dolan to go in with a plan to stop that timer from shutting off the light on March 31st.


I agree with you that the date and timer is still there and ticking away. But you need to understand that there is a significant difference in that now, two people have the opportunity to prevent that timer from tripping.

The hurdle is indeed different because now Dolan's have the blessing of the Board to go after a plan with vigor while before they had to risk doing this without the boards permission which looked like a conflict of interest and not doing what the board decided. That was the point of the letter last week. For the next 3 weeks Dolans may do what they need to do without interferrence from the Son James or the other board members.

Will they be able to pull it off? Now that is a question worth discussion but your fixation that there has been nothing different with this new plan is just not so. If you still can't figure this out then I suggest you take leave of this forum for about 21 days and just go watch your VOOM channels, come back and find out what happened.


________________

To those who are fixed on the misconception that VOOM is DOOMED because E* has an agreement to buy the uplink and bird and get the licenses- Consider this- You have no clue as to the satellite technology and options that are possible. You don't know how to think creatively a.k.a. out of the box. You are in the same camp as those a few years ago that claimed D* could not squeeze any more HDTV channels than their PPV and demo channel. Back then you people couldn't think creatively and you still can't today. But not to worry, there are plenty of creative thinkers that will keep the planet spinning for you so why not just sit back and enjoy the fruits of their gift to you and stop worrying that the last innovation possible was thought up yesterday!

Go after a plan with vigor??? You mean an effort that requires NO money from Cablevision. All that agreement did was allow Voom to keep advertising and signing up customers without being sued and not drive off customers. Cablevision could care less about Voom and if anything that meeting and agreement was for its protection as much as anything. The rest is up to Charles Dolan. He has 21 days or its over. The worst part is that our fate is in the hands of Charlie Ergen not Charles Dolan and not Cablevision. which brings up an even more interesting question. If Chuck was serious about Voom why didnt he change the board members earlier? Why allow your survival to be placed in the hands of a 3rd party? a direct competitor no less? Certainly the Billionaire dolan could have coughed up 200 million.

 

[kelljc]

All I can say Is WOW, we still have cable: and C-band:

 

[duckydan]

sale of the bird/effecting voom?

Don't think the planned sale could be reversed now without a substantial penalty to CVC/Rainbow/Voom. Not sure it needs to be scuttled anyway.

\QUOTE]

I think that this could be reversed if the sale of voom takes place before the completion of the sale of Rainbow... if voom switches from the hands of james/cablevision to chuck dolan then chuck could claim that the sale was part of a malicious attempt to shut down voom before he could purchase it and then the sale would be nullified. Just a possibility (too much law & order for me....)

 

[dabbler]

Did anyone else notice that the Voom site is now extending the offer of 3 room installation for a buck till APRIL 30th? That looks good if they are accepting new customers again. I have been waiting a watching and reading these posts trying to make heads or tails of it. But this extension of offer looks good to me now.

 

[James Long]

I think that this could be reversed if the sale of voom takes place before the completion of the sale of Rainbow... if voom switches from the hands of james/cablevision to chuck dolan then chuck could claim that the sale was part of a malicious attempt to shut down voom before he could purchase it and then the sale would be nullified. Just a possibility (too much law & order for me....)

The Dolan's offer to buy out Voom on February 10th was for "the rest of Voom" - everything left after the sale of Rainbow1, the Blackhawk uplink and licenses. E* and Cablevision can jointly agree to cancel their sales contract, but not Dolan alone.

JL

 

[kelljc]

The Dolan's offer to buy out Voom on February 10th was for "the rest of Voom" - everything left after the sale of Rainbow1, the Blackhawk uplink and licenses. E* and Cablevision can jointly agree to cancel their sales contract, but not Dolan alone.

JL

I don't understand :: To Be fair and Balanced: you make a lot of NON Vooming Post's, maybe I'm wrong but that's how it seems? are you a VOOMER, let us all know? then we will apply your post with the proper care as needed??????

 

[vurbano]

I don't understand :: To Be fair and Balanced: you make a lot of NON Vooming Post's, maybe I'm wrong but that's how it seems? are you a VOOMER, let us all know? then we will apply your post with the proper care as needed??????

Why not just address the post without bias either way towards the poster?

 

[subdude212]

stop worrying that the last innovation possible was thought up yesterday!

Don:

I continue to appreciate your viewpoint and expertise since back in the days when we hung out in the old ASOFT forum on Compuserve a decade ago.

 

[James Long]

Why not just address the post without bias either way towards the poster?

Agreed. While it would be nice if all readers would understand it seems like some seem only to post complete quote posts that say they don't understand or cheerleading posts.

JL
(Vicki, I'm not talking about you and there are male cheerleaders in this world so don't make any sexist assumptions.)

 

[kelljc]

Why not just address the post without bias either way towards the poster?

I'm sorry I don't see a bias either way, but there seems to be so much non factual items it makes is confusing for New sub's to tell what is correct and what is incorrect, a lot of Good Post's are covered almost the instant ther're posted If i did not have voom and reading some of the trash I've read I don't think I would have ever gone to Voom: don't you agree.

 

[mdonnelly]

I'm sorry I don't see a bias either way, but there seems to be so much non factual items it makes is confusing for New sub's to tell what is correct and what is incorrect, a lot of Good Post's are covered almost the instant ther're posted If i did not have voom and reading some of the trash I've read I don't think I would have ever gone to Voom: don't you agree.

Facts are facts. The March 31st deadline is a fact. Ignoring VOOM's precarious future won't make it better. People who visit here have the right to make up their own minds, based on all the information that's available.

Skepticism serves a valid purpose on this forum. It makes us expand our thought process to see the side of an issue that we'd rather not see.