Good business is not to just yank 15 channels that paying subs enjoy to one degree or another.
Good business is not trying tell a sub that MHD is just like Rave or Chiller in SD is just as good as Monsters HD.
Good business is not telling subs that more HD channels are coming "soon" and then giving vague dates like "by summer" and "by the end of the year".
I agree 100%, a good business would've handled the Voom situation differently. You shouldn't just take 15 HD channels away, add 22 other ones and then try to pass them off as being as good as or the same as the ones you removed.
I agree with the part of not just yanking the channels off the air, if they had a choice about it.
I don't think anyone likes to hear vague dates given, but that doesn't really have anything to do with VOOM. We would be lucky to even hear if they have plans to add more, much less the time frame. It doesn't appear that VOOM was taken down in order to give us the other channels they added.... and we don't even know if they plan to "downlink" them. So I suppose it is possible that they plan to add more HD without removing them completely.
As for the rest of your analysis, I do not understand how you (and others) come to the conclusion that they are replacing the Voom channels for the 22 HD channels. Where have they stated for instance that they are replacing MHD for Rave or that Chiller is the replacement for Monsters. Just because it happened in the same time frame doesn't mean the intention was to swap them out.
The only time I have heard any comments made from DISH in reference to adding programming after the removal of VOOM was when Charlie was giving the DISH Earnings Report........
Q
Voom channels what does this mean in lt carriage of these channels,
A:
Charlie the Voom channels we are going to take the Voom channels down have already took down 2/3 rdaand will take down the rest when we can; We can replace those channels with other channels of comperative value.
It sounded to me like he was talking about replacements in the future, not that they already have replaced it.
Refuting the Voom Haters Lie that Voom has had nothing new and repeats the same thing without change:
Voom is quality we will never see again. Anyone who believes otherwise is entitled to their beliefs no matter how obviously false they are.
I wouldn't mind still having the VOOM channels around, but not at the cost of having other HD channels added. If it truly is not a Bandwidth issue.. then I hope they work something out, and bring VOOM back. But as far as VOOM returning instead of getting some other HD channels, I can't say that I would vote for that. (Not that we get any votes, obviously from what happened!)
VOOM to me was just some set of channels that were nice to show off. They did have nice quality shows to view in HD, and the definition was definately "HIGH". The only problem was, the programming itself didn't seem appealing to me. There were only a few channels that I would actually tune to periodically. These all seemed to lack updated programming. Let's take Rave for instance... the same concerts from '05-'07 were always being played. Sure, you can point to other networks that repeat programming. To me, it is a different type of repeating though. For instance, I notice alot repeats on many channels, but they repeat a new show many times during the week that they air a "new" episode of that show. That is a little bit different than always showing repeats of shows from a few years ago. I am not saying that VOOM did not air new original content.... but for 15 channels, and the number of premiers shown on those post, that is not very convincing. I think part of the confusion of comparisons is that when others are trying to compare VOOM to another channel, they are looking at VOOM as a whole. (15 channels) If you separate those 15 channels and break down how much new content aired on each of those channels individually over the 10 months that you reference in those links, I doubt there is very much for each one.
I do find it interesting that in those same links provided above, there were posts made as to the programming that VOOM was providing.
Is it me or has the programming lineup been a little weak over the summer?
They better add alot more to this list!
Voom is on it's last legs.. you can feel it.
Wow, Darren called it just a couple of months before it happened.
There is no way around it.... it sucks that we have 15 less HD channels. I think everyone, those who liked VOOM and those who didn't care much about it either way... I think everyone would prefer to still have them in the line up, (in addition to the new HD of course). But it appears for whatever reason, DISH obviously felt it was the right thing.... I can't see them deciding to remove them just because they could, or because they are playing hard ball to get them in another tier.... Dish has a lot to lose here in removing VOOM as well. Why would they remove channels which they own 20% of? It's too bad that those who attended the Meet and Greet with Charlie and Eric cannot tell us what they were told concerning the removal of VOOM, but obviously they were told something that cleared the air with them.
And as far as the statement about "VOOM Haters" I don't think there are VOOM Haters that are posting in all of these forums... I think it is more along the lines of people who do not necessarily go out of their way to support VOOM.
If you asked most of them, I believe they would all agree, if they had the choice to keep VOOM without affecting the new HD that was added, and any potential New HD in the future, obviously most would support keeping VOOM. It's not that they Hate VOOM, it's just that if they were given a choice, VOOM may be on the lower end of their list. There is nothing wrong with that, everyone has their right to their own taste. Just like those who support VOOM and are upset that it has been removed. I can understand why everyone is upset. However, I believe that the frustration and aggravation is caused by VOOM itself, not by DISH. Yes, DISH removed the channels, and yes, they removed them at midnight, and yes, they removed them just after adding some other HD channels, but, why? This is the question that should be focused on.
I have made a lot of post concerning the removal of VOOM, and for some reason I feel like I have had to defend DISH. I think some have taken it personal towards DISH, because they are the ones who removed the channels. I believe if everything was in the open, and if the timing of the removal was different, that people would have viewed everything alot differently.
I for one, hope more information will be made public during the ongoing court hearings.