Time for more VOOM programming speculation!

[M Sparks]

OK, so everyone's been arguing over encoding schemes, bandwidth, transponders, ect. on the new VOOM announcement. But again, no one's talking about what's going to be ON these channels. Time for some analysis...

The original uplink indicated that 6 of the "original" VOOM movie channels would be removed. (By "original", I mean pre DISH- technically the first VOOM channels were different still.) 2 of them were coming back, along with the three remaining non-movie channels. Those six movie channels were to be replaced by six new channels of unknown formats.

The interesting thing in this shakeout? Of the six channels dropped, five of them were the "new" channels. Two more of the "original" channels were dropped, but one- "Family Room" (one of the more missed ones, based on some comments I've read) is coming back. It seems to me there was more to this than just bandwidth issues. Someone decided that the new formats just weren't going to work. And perhaps the complaints about repetition were taken as seriously as the complaints about picture quality.

The bad news for movie lovers is that while the original VOOM-21 was more than 50% movie channels, VOOM-15 will be only 33% movie channels, barely more than the 30% we have with VOOM-10. The good news is that those channels will clearly have MUCH more variety.

The fact that "Gameplay HD" is the only new format to remain says to me that it was the only channel that was truly a "new" format. I'm betting that those that said it would be an HD version of G4 are probably right. We have entered the age of HD gaming, and it makes perfect sense.

So now, instead of the 6 "orphaned" formats we had with the last uplink report, we have 12- seven of the "original" formats, and 5 we never got to see.

So what will happen to the programming?

"Lab"- Will probably remain in the "Rave" overnights. Perhaps use some of it for filler in-between programs? I don't think anyone will miss it.

"World Cinema" & "Film Fest"-It would have been nice to see these combined into one "Sundance HD" like channel- presumably most will go to "The Majestic"

"Gunslingers" & "Vice"- Mostly to "Guy TV", a few could go to "The Majestic"

"HaHa"- Comedies can be spread amongst all the remaining channels...there are "family comedies", "guy comedies", "classic comedies", "horror comedies", even "martial art comedies". As much as I love comedies, this format isn't necessary.

"Divine"- A tough one, but from what I've heard, this was mostly campy movies and musicals- not genuine "gay" themed programming. Again, "The Majestic" will have to soak most of this up.

"Coda"- Most of us assumed this would be musicals- "The Majestic" and "FamilyRoom" can share.

"Cosmic"- "Monsters" could take some of the sci-fi programming, "GuyTV", and "FamilyRoom" will get most of the rest, and a few for "The Majestic"

"Renew"- Nothing is known about this...a few of us thought it would be "chick flicks". "The Majestic" again.

"Torque"- probably the most argued about format. Some said action movies, some said sports-maybe racing. Either way, it can be absorbed by "GuyTV" or "Rush"

"Sizzle"- Uhhh, maybe "The Majestic" will change their name to "The Pussycat" after midnight? Seriously, I always assumed it was going to be romance movies (although that clashes with the "Renew" chick flick assumption.) We may never know what they had in mind.

Looking at this, I wonder if "The Majestic" will see a name change as well. The other 4 movies channels will be two broad niches ("GuyTV" and "FamilyRoom") and two narrow niches ("Monsters" and "Kung Fu"). That means the fifth channel will have to be the general purpose channel. The name "The Majestic" conjures up a few different impressions, but none of them fit, say, a Julia Roberts comedy- which would have no other home on VOOM-15. I really think they need a generic "VOOM Movies" channel. Even if they go back to 21 channels down the line, they could always benefit from a high variety, unrepetetive flagship movie channel. They could show the best of the niche channels, and anything that doesn't seem to fit the niches.

In fact, I see "VOOM-18" as an optimal number. If they had a general purpose movie channel, the only other niche channels they would really need would be a foreign/independant movie channel, a "GalTV" counterpart to "GuyTV", and "The Majestic" that just showed classics and epics.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Read around there have been plenty of posts about new programming coming to VOOM around the beginning of 2006.

VOOM has invested a LOT of money in new programming.

 

[riffjim4069]

VOOM21, Cinema10 and new VOOM content were huge issue with me prior to VOOM-Lite, VOOM15, and Charlie's big MPEG-4 bomb the past few weeks. I have no idea what VOOM is going to bring to the table in January, but I'm pretty sure there will be lots of new content in addition to new programming formats. I'm just going to hang-out and enjoy VOOM15, ESPN2HD and UHD for a while before forming any opinions. The one nice thing about VOOM is they listen to customer feedback and adjust their programming accordingly.

 

[JH1949]

Someone decided that the new formats just weren't going to work. And perhaps the complaints about repetition were taken as seriously as the complaints about picture quality.

The bad news for movie lovers is that while the original VOOM-21 was more than 50% movie channels, VOOM-15 will be only 33% movie channels, barely more than the 30% we have with VOOM-10. The good news is that those channels will clearly have MUCH more variety.

So now, instead of the 6 "orphaned" formats we had with the last uplink report, we have 12- seven of the "original" formats, and 5 we never got to see.

So what will happen to the programming?

IMO, your best bet is to just sit back, relax, and wait for possible answers from the CES or from the January 9 Charlie Chat.

In the meantime, you could re-read what people answered when you asked a similar question in your previous post.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=46705

From your previous post, it sounds like you don't know when to record a Voom movie you are interested in when you are away at work. You might want to consider upgrading to DVR/PVR.

Or if you only have a VCR and want to know about Voom movies more than 48 hours ahead, you might want to sign up for the following.

http://www.zap2it.com/

 

[FreddyvsJasonvsAsh]

I always thought it would be cool for VOOM to have one channel dedicated to blockbuster movies...so they could compete with the likes of HBO, Starz ect...

LOTR, Star Wars, ID4, Jurassic Park (1,2,3) and the list goes on and on

 

[Tom Bombadil]

If true, this is disappointing news about the loss of movie channels. Even if all of the content remains, I would still rather have a few more movie channels than channels like Rush or Ultra.

But it isn't a biggie. As long as HD is maintained and they air all of their content.

 

[DWS44]

and UHD

Is UHD still on the table for early January? I remember it mentioned a while back, but not since. It hasnt been uplinked like ESPN2HD, has it?

 

[M Sparks]

IMO, your best bet is to just sit back, relax, and wait for possible answers from the CES or from the January 9 Charlie Chat.
In the meantime, you could re-read what people answered when you asked a similar question in your previous post.

That was a rhetorical question. And then, I went ahead and gave my answer. May be right, may be wrong. No sweat. Some of us find speculation fun. And I'm totally relaxed.

I just think it's amusing that some people around here can fill 25 pages with arguments about FEC and encoding schemes, but they don't seem interested in what comes OUT of the DECODER. I'm interested in the tech side too, and I care about picture quality, but the programming is the point. I get the feeling some people would rather watch a test pattern than a great film if the bitrate and resolution was higher on the test pattern.

From your previous post, it sounds like you don't know when to record a Voom movie you are interested in when you are away at work. You might want to consider upgrading to DVR/PVR.
Or if you only have a VCR and want to know about Voom movies more than 48 hours ahead, you might want to sign up for the following.
http://www.zap2it.com/

I have no idea what you are talking about. First of all, I have a 942, and I've had several PVRs since the 7100. But in order to PVR a film, you have to know it's on. I may run a search for a specific film now and then, but for the most part, I just run across them. I do PVR one or two movies a week. But usually, it's because I run across a movie that's halfway over, so I run a search to see when it airs again. If that movie airs two times a year, once at noon and once at 3AM, I would never know it was on. I don't have the time, nor the inclination to sort through every movie that's on over 30-40 channels to see if I'm interested in anything.

Second, I've clearly stated that I LIKE the idea of less repetition of the movie channels. But I do think they are consolidating a bit too much. Particularly since I am interested in "WorldCinema" and "FilmFest". I would be happy to see them consolidated into one "art film" channel. But if they did that and kept the current schedule of 2 movies a day, repeated 10 days a month, that's still 20 different "art films" a month. Do you honestly think "The Majestic" will program 20 art films a month, no matter how non-repetitive their schedule becomes?

Of course all the programming will get shown somewhere at some time. But that fact is, some programming will get less airtime than others. What you seem to be saying is, if it's not interesting to you, it's unimportant. I personally don't care about sports. Seems to me that "Rush" is very repetitive, and combining it with "WorldSport" on the weekends was just fine. But obviously some people are excited about having "Worldsport" back full time. What about "Monsters" and "Kung Fu" (which I like). If they didn't exist, those films would get very little airtime. Yet those are two of the most popular VOOM channels.

Now, I would totally get behind some sort of "rotating" channel like "Encore MoviePlex". Have "World Cinema" Mondays, "Film Fest" Tuesdays, "Gunslingers" Wednesdays, ect. Then those films would have a regular home, people would know how to find them (and PVR them for later), and quality could be kept up. Why do you think "Encore MoviePlex" exists? So those niche films could have a home on a cable system that couldn't devote 7 channels to Encore.

Most of the programming on those Encore theme channels NEVER air on Encore. And if you shut them down, those movies would just sit in a vault. They wouldn't air a 1936 Gene Autry movie on Encore. They created those theme channels to leverage the programming they owned. Presumably, Voom was trying to do the same thing. They probably reached a little too far. But it's my opinion that they've now contracted a little too much. There is a optimum balance somewhere.

The fact is, a lot of us bought satellite for the choice. Niche channels are what drove satellite and digital cable.

As for using zap2it.com...if I don't have time to search my EPG, why would I waste time doing it on my computer?

Maybe you shouldn't make assumptions about people based on a couple posts. I could make assumptions about you...that you spend all your time combing TV listings and watching your PVR...that you only like ultra-mainstream Hollywood crap...that you're totally self centered...that you don't actually read posts very carefully before responding to them...that you like belittling people from behind a keyboard, because you've been belittled face to face all your life, ect...

...or maybe you just misunderstood me, and were trying to be nice and helpful. See, that's why I don't like to make assumptions.

 

[M Sparks]

Read around there have been plenty of posts about new programming coming to VOOM around the beginning of 2006.

VOOM has invested a LOT of money in new programming.

My point exactly...great news, but it doesn't mean anything if there's not a home for some of it.

Of course, VOOM has no way to go but up now. My point is, at some point there were twelve different channel formats that were programmed or intended to be programmed, that have now been dropped. It's even more interesting to me now that we may never see what they had in mind.

Sorry, I'm a content producer, not an engineer.

 

[M Sparks]

If true, this is disappointing news about the loss of movie channels. Even if all of the content remains, I would still rather have a few more movie channels than channels like Rush or Ultra.

But it isn't a biggie. As long as HD is maintained and they air all of their content.

HEY! SOMEONE GOT MY POINT!

 

[JH1949]

That was a rhetorical question.... As for using zap2it.com...if I don't have time to search my EPG, why would I waste time doing it on my computer?...or maybe you just misunderstood me, and were trying to be nice and helpful. See, that's why I don't like to make assumptions.

Yup, that's me, simpleminded and misunderstood you. Apologies.

Had Voom for about 2 years and going thru the repeats on their program guide was a pain for me. Mistakenly thought that you were having the same problem finding new movies that you hadn't watched before.

 

[JH1949]

OK, so everyone's been arguing over encoding schemes, bandwidth, transponders, ect. on the new VOOM announcement. But again, no one's talking about what's going to be ON these channels. Time for some

...speculation JMO

(1) won't know anything until CES or January 9 Charlie Chat, if even then
(2) won't lose any of the Voom reruns of old movies
(3) will be more difficult to figure out which channels have personal favorites on them because niches will be consolidated because of reduced number of movie channels
(4) reduced number of movie channels may have less repeats of an individual movie in a single day -- my preference would be for each Voom movie channel to have an 8 hour block of different movies each day but repeat that block 2 more times during the 24 hour period
(5) the new names of Voom channels may be difficult to associate with the niches of movies show on them
(6) maybe 90% of the movies will be the same ones we Voomers have watched on it for the last 2 or more years
(7) JMO consolidated niches might be:
channel A: guy TV and Kung Fu and action flicks
channel B: world cinema and BBC series and majestic
channel C: oldies but goodies mixture of film noir and comedies and who knows what else (kinda like an AMC for Voom)
channel D: monsters and sci fi and horror

 

[Tvlman]

Do we have a date yet for the other VOOM programming to be added?

Also, will it only be added after MPEG-4 conversion??

 

[M Sparks]

(1) won't know anything until CES or January 9 Charlie Chat, if even then

Well, hasn't Scott been kicking around a Jan 4th start date? Not that it means anything...

(3) will be more difficult to figure out which channels have personal favorites on them because niches will be consolidated because of reduced number of movie channels
(5) the new names of Voom channels may be difficult to associate with the niches of movies show on them

That was essentially the point I was trying to make.

(4) reduced number of movie channels may have less repeats of an individual movie in a single day -- my preference would be for each Voom movie channel to have an 8 hour block of different movies each day but repeat that block 2 more times during the 24 hour period

Good idea, but I just had a horrible vision...remember the format of Starz 2/Theater? Ugh. Thank goodness VOOM isn't THAT bad.

(6) maybe 90% of the movies will be the same ones we Voomers have watched on it for the last 2 or more years

Yes, but for those of us who are "new" to Voom, it will seem like a flood of new programming. Monsters has just about the amount of repetition I expected, but GuyTV and Majestic have been virtually worthless to me. I think I've watched each one once. And I haven't seen anything on either one of them that would have fit the formats of any of the "missing" channels, either the ones that are coming back or the ones that aren't. So that means there's been a good chunk of stuff sitting around since May that most of us never saw.


[/QUOTE](7) JMO consolidated niches might be:
channel A: guy TV and Kung Fu and action flicks
channel B: world cinema and BBC series and majestic
channel C: oldies but goodies mixture of film noir and comedies and who knows what else (kinda like an AMC for Voom)
channel D: monsters and sci fi and horror[/QUOTE]


And don't forget FamilyRoom appears to be returning.

Like I said, I think they could benefit from 2 or 3 more Movie formats, but otherwise, the contraction is probably a good thing.

 

[JH1949]

Thanks for the info about Family Room. I was going to miss that one if not continued !

Another JMO but I think a long term Voomer will be a person that doesn't mind watching reruns IF they are in high res HD. But if it gets no better than HDlite then they will not be willing to continue paying for it.

Which will bring up the conundrum of what to do if E* consolidates everything into a single HDpak for $15 with Voom @ HDlite while the rest stay at higher res.

 

[M Sparks]

Looks like I got one of my wishes...Kung Fu changed to World Cinema according to Tony's chart.

I would like Kung Fu too, but they should do "Kung Fu Sundays" on GuyTV, or something like that. Heck, do it on World Cinema...most of it qualifies. Or how about a Kung Fu movie every night at 11pm...