Will Voom Survive?

[Eric_C]

Seriously...who thinkgs Voom will survive as its own?

Please read http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?p=230232#post230232 first, you can almost see them throwing their hands up in the air as they typed it out.

Most major promises pushed back again...no DVR in the near future, no more channels unless you want 2 dishes or a 20x30 dish and we know how long it took for the mythical 24" dish to come out. No MPEG4 for HD until 2006, if even then.

Price increase coming in January....dropping subs, no new subs....losing money left and right...

I believe they have crossed the point where it doesn't make financial sense to continue for the majority of shareholders, they'd need to sign up 125K subs ASAP or have some other major announcement AND hope E* and D* sit on their hands.

D* can bury Voom with a new Sat and a half way decent installation offer. Voom has just admitted to the world, barring a miracle they will be a sitting duck for at least 1 year.

They need a new backer or be sold, I personally think there is zero chance for Voom to survive in its current state as a stand along entity without a big dollar backer. The stock holders want the company to dump them ASAP.

Whatcha think?

I voted for E* but thats more of a hope...

 

[Indy]

Me thinks you will need the ol' crystal ball to figure this one out. Only time will tell what crazy people with plenty of money to throw at a project will do when they finally wake up and realize it ain't working!

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

Seriously...who thinks Voom will survive as its own?

I do.

 

[Eric_C]

If they got a backer, who was looking at this as a new start then they have just as much of a chance as they did when they first started.

If you think they will survive on their own, how?

If Cablevision dumps them they have no money...no one is going to loan them money without themselves selling their souls, who is going to ink that deal?

Where are the business dollars for them to continue? They have backing and still can't fix the problems. They are up against a huge company with massive resources.

 

[Bilodeaumj]

I voted for at least a year since it seems they have the borrowing capacity to last that long. Everyone seems to be jumping on a "bash VOOM" bandwagon but for those of us without billing problems or OTA issues, and got in during the no install fee, the equation remains the same - No risk service. If VOOM goes down, I'll be sad to see my HD choices go down with them because cable in my area still can't compete with VOOM (though they are getting closer).

It's the DVR issue that's the killer for me. I almost switched because of that issue alone but realized I'd be giving up all the VOOM HD to basically have the cabability of taping HBO and Showtime in Hi Def. Talk about repeats! What's the use???

 

[voomvoom]

Seriously...who thinks Voom will survive as its own?

I voted for 5 years, but seriously I live one day at a time, so me thinks, me don't have to thinks....
BTW who is the Virgin Guy?

 

[BFG]

5 years? Wow, that's pretty amazing. You have higher hopes than voom themselves...

I'm beginning to wonder if even DBS can hang on much longer these days. With all the new technologies coming out, DBS is having a tough time keeping up with the bandwidth that are required to run these.

If cable ever moves to an all digital system that can be delivered uncompressed, I'm probably out of here.

Look what cable has now:
Video on Demand
Local HD Channels (virtually uncompressed)
Digital Channels (a lot less compression than DBS)
High-speed internet
Digital phone

Satellite is getting farther and farther from being able to grasp these technologies with their limitations

 

[Eric_C]

The Virgin Records guy, he has bazillions, hell he plans on sending people into space in 5 years for joy rides and they are already designing the ships to do it.

 

[BFG]

heh

I love how his flight attendents are called "virgin girls" lol

 

[voomvoom]

The Virgin Records guy, he has bazillions, hell he plans on sending people into space in 5 years for joy rides and they are already designing the ships to do it.

So this must be the Guy who just paid the $10 million dollar prize to the independants that launched the 2nd flight into space of Spaceship One (or whatever it's called) a couple of weeks ago...

 

[Walter L.]

no more channels unless you want 2 dishes or a 20x30 dish and we know how long it took for the mythical 24" dish to come out. No MPEG4 for HD until 2006

Actually, notice that on the Amendment #4 To Form 10 VOOM has indicated that:

We currently anticipate that we will obtain additional capacity from
further advances in MPEG-2 technology beginning in the first quarter of 2005.

That means that they may have enough capacity for new channel additions before the MPEG-4 transition and/or new orbital slot (new dish).

 

[hongcho]

I think with the "advancements" in the MPEG-2 encoders, they can maybe squeeze one, maybe two HD channels.

I can't see the MPEG-2 encoder efficiency getting better than 10% (even that seems generous).

Hong.

 

[barth2k]

It's pretty simple: a company can lose money, or lose customers. It cannot lose both and survive on its own.

There's nothing in Voom's plan that points to a dramatic turnaround. How long can they keep burning cash on a subscriber base that isn't growing? A buyout looks like the most promising option now, and if you care about Voom, that's what you should be hoping for.

 

[wase4711]

is this another one of those "self fufilling prophacies" that folks keep posting here???

Geez, it seems like people are actually HOPING Voom goes under...is the glass half empty or half full....is it partly cloudy or partly sunny...doesn't ANYONE try to find the positives in life?????

 

[vurbano]

That means that they may have enough capacity for new channel additions before the MPEG-4 transition and/or new orbital slot (new dish).

Walter this is not directed at you, but WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! further advancements in mpeg2 technology means... MORE COMPRESSION OR DOWNREZZING!!!!!!!!

 

[leaderc]

Voom still has many more HD channels than anyone else, it makes sense that if they are not financially sustainable (and it would appear they are not), for either D* or E* to acquire them and the programming. If either did, it wouldn't change our lot much except who the bill came from, maybe a box switch in the future, but that's their problem to figure out. For those who bought their Voom boxes, I'm sure they'd offer something, for those of us renting, it'd probably be a no cost option. I'm not really much of a glass-half-full person, but there are a good number of HDTV's being sold, and people buying them want programming, seems like good financial sense for D* or E* to offer it?

Just my $0.02,
Charles

 

[Eric_C]

Thanks for the replies...the poll results say enough about Voom and what their customers think of it.

 

[Walter L.]

Thanks for the replies...the poll results say enough about Voom and what their customers think of it.

It tells that none of us know what the heck is going to happen

 

[Eric_C]

I just finished reading the comments in the Form 10 thread, I wish I could reset the poll and see where it goes.

If the investors are calling for Voom to be shuttered, it will happen. If nothing else the reports in the papers have finished Voom off, anyone who does research into buying Cablevision stock will get these news reports and stay back causing the share price to drop.

Voom is a liability and hasn't produced at all. If E* is smart they'll wait it out, probably get it at a bargain basement price.

 

[Sean Mota]

If the investors are calling for Voom to be shuttered, it will happen.

It is not the investors, it is the interest groups at Wall Street who are calling it quit.

If nothing else the reports in the papers have finished Voom off, anyone who does research into buying Cablevision stock will get these news reports and stay back causing the share price to drop.

I guess the $1 billion they've got from an unknown source was a ghost!