source: http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzside074167817mar07,0,5271477.story?coll=ny-business-headlines
Viewers going for rough rid (NewsDay) 03.07.05
BY HARRY BERKOWITZ and HILARY JOHNSON
STAFF WRITERS
March 7, 2005
For the tens of thousands of Voom customers, subscribing to a satellite TV service has been a roller-coaster ride and a corporate soap opera all in one - and they know each day may be the last.
The service itself, which was launched by Cablevision in 2003 featuring high-definition TV channels, has careened through changing pricing plans, installation problems and operational glitches.
But that's nothing compared with Cablevision's boardroom battles, a struggle that has pronounced Voom dead one day and still alive the next.
"I would not have built my home theater without Voom," said Rick Moore, 60, who lives in Noblesville, Ind., and spent $15,000 to turn a sun room into a Voom room. "We found our tastes changed because of the picture quality."
Not everyone was stuck with Voom. Four in 10 of the initial customers dropped it or were months behind in payments. Only 46,000 are current customers, compared with more than 10 million at each of the competing satellite TV services.
And the turmoil at Cablevision is leaving many customers agonizing over whether they will have to switch to a competing service, with less crystal-clear, high-definition TV and more plain standard-definition.
"Hopefully, Voom as we now enjoy it, or at least the channels we all love, will survive," Dennis Wallace, 52, of Carmel, Ind., wrote on a satellite TV fans Web site. "This is a bittersweet experience for us all - to actually live the HD dream but have the threat of waking up to a SD world one morning."
Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc.
Viewers going for rough rid (NewsDay) 03.07.05
BY HARRY BERKOWITZ and HILARY JOHNSON
STAFF WRITERS
March 7, 2005
For the tens of thousands of Voom customers, subscribing to a satellite TV service has been a roller-coaster ride and a corporate soap opera all in one - and they know each day may be the last.
The service itself, which was launched by Cablevision in 2003 featuring high-definition TV channels, has careened through changing pricing plans, installation problems and operational glitches.
But that's nothing compared with Cablevision's boardroom battles, a struggle that has pronounced Voom dead one day and still alive the next.
"I would not have built my home theater without Voom," said Rick Moore, 60, who lives in Noblesville, Ind., and spent $15,000 to turn a sun room into a Voom room. "We found our tastes changed because of the picture quality."
Not everyone was stuck with Voom. Four in 10 of the initial customers dropped it or were months behind in payments. Only 46,000 are current customers, compared with more than 10 million at each of the competing satellite TV services.
And the turmoil at Cablevision is leaving many customers agonizing over whether they will have to switch to a competing service, with less crystal-clear, high-definition TV and more plain standard-definition.
"Hopefully, Voom as we now enjoy it, or at least the channels we all love, will survive," Dennis Wallace, 52, of Carmel, Ind., wrote on a satellite TV fans Web site. "This is a bittersweet experience for us all - to actually live the HD dream but have the threat of waking up to a SD world one morning."
Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc.
