Will you stay when Voom raises rates?

[vurbano]

I like Voom. But I believe the service is already overpriced. Anyone else ready to jump ship if the bill goes up another 10 dollars? IMO some of the exclusive channels are just worthless and i cannot justify funding them with a rate increase. A portion of my monthly premium must go to those channels and I refuse to support garbage like Moov and a 30 minute HD news loop channel with a rate increase.

 

[Dvlos]

It depends, if they have more to offer (wm9, with more channels, better pq, and DVR) i'll stay. It seems they are gearing up for a plenty of new things, even restructuring the Cinema10 (which is something you always talked about cutting or changing them), as long as the wheel is moving forward that's good.

Raising my VVV $10 doesn't bother me as much as I don't have a good option for multiroom... if the rates were better in that arena I'd have 4 TVs connected.

 

[vurbano]

It depends, if they have more to offer (wm9, with more channels, better pq, and DVR) i'll stay. It seems they are gearing up for a plenty of new things, even restructuring the Cinema10 (which is something you always talked about cutting or changing them), as long as the wheel is moving forward that's good.

Raising my VVV $10 doesn't bother me as much as I don't have a good option for multiroom... if the rates were better in that arena I'd have 4 TVs connected.

WM9 is overdue. The new channels are almost a month late. Leases began in October. Where are they? I dont see how a company on the verge of being sold can talk about rate increases and future channels. The news has been almost nonexistant. This company has been to how many tech shows without even a prototype DVR? All theyve shown us is an empty box run by a computer. Im sorry but its getting time to sh$t or get off the pot.

 

[Dvlos]

I'm getting pretty confident that a DVR is close, I also seem to feel Voom selling content would be closer to reality than selling the whole company, but that's just me. We'll see in January where things are then.

 

[vurbano]

I'm getting pretty confident that a DVR is close, I also seem to feel Voom selling content would be closer to reality than selling the whole company, but that's just me. We'll see in January where things are then.

What gives you a "confident" feeling? the FCC filings? the E* buyout rumors? perhaps the empty box DVR? LMAO or maybe the new dishes on our roofs? the upgrade cards we got in the mail? The new channels on our PG? or maybe the better PQ we all have now from WM9? which one of those gives you a warm fuzzy? O maybe its the silence from V*.

 

[riffjim4069]

Good Question...not easy for me to answer.

That's a great question, but you need to add several more options. Personally speaking, VOOM needs to work on their pricing model in order to stay competitive with Cable and other DBS providers. Although we could afford to pay a lot more for our home entertainment expense (and Internet), there is only so much we are willing to pay to watch TV; it's a personal choice and each person/family will make this decisions with their head, heart and ultimately their wallet. I'm sure many VOOMers are faced with a similar issues and decisions, so I'm just going to lay them out here for your consideration.

My Issues:

• I love HD and prefer not to watch SD
• VOOM is my first and only DBS provider
• I have little interested in D* or E* unless they dramatically increase HD offerings
• I have 2 OTA antennas and a ready spare
• Reliably receive programming from 2 DMAs and unreliably from 2 others
• Most our our "planned watching" is spend watching OTA Prime Time or Sports
• I hate Cable, but they offer an affordable HD DVR - taking advantage of 6 month promo
• We gotta have Broadband Internet - Cable offers significant bundled discounts
• Stand Alone broadband $54.95, is only $27.05 when bundled with Cable - no DSL in area
• I will not maintain both Cable and VOOM in 2005 - paying for duplicate SD channels
• I am not going to pay VOOM $199 to install 2 additional STBs and/or thin clients...it ain't gonna happen.
• Prefer if VOOM would mail the equipment and cable and will handle the rest, but I am not going to pay $199

My choices:

1. Get Va Va VOOM at the "expected" 2005 price
2. Get Va Va VOOM at the "hopeful" 2005 adjusted price
3. Get Premium Cable package and drop VOOM.
4. Get rid of VOOM and Cable and go OTA all the way.

Assumption: Although we don't need Va Va VOOM (1 or 2 premium channels would suffice), it makes more sense since DBS and Cable offer significant package discounts. Therefore, my price comparison will be between the upper-tier packages.

Cable HD:
$113.45 Ultimate - 4 premiums, all the digital cable garbage, plus Broadband Internet (discount breaks down to $27.05 per month)
$7.95 HD DVR Rental
$4.95 DVR Service
$1.75 Cable Card for 2nd HDTV
$0.00 N/A for 3rd set
$5.00 HD Tier
$133.10 (total) which includes 14 HD channels, HD DVR and Broadband Internet

VOOM (Current 2005 Pricing Model - DVR Rental/Fee is an estimate):
VaVa VOOM $89.99
HD DVR Rental $9.50
DVR Service $5.00
2nd STB $14.50
3rd STB $14.50
$133.49 (total for VOOM)
$54.95 (Stand alone Internet via Adelphia monopoly - no DSL in area)
$188.44 (total for VOOMs 40 HD channels and Broadband Internet)

VOOM (Hopeful 2005 Pricing Model - DVR Rental/Fee is an estimate):
VaVa VOOM $89.99
HD DVR Rental $9.50
DVR Service $5.00
2nd STB (mirror) $5.00 *free STB rental (up to 3) with 1 year subscription to VaVa VOOM
3rd STB (mirror) $5.00 *free Installation with 1 year subscription to VaVa VOOM
$114.49
$54.95 (Stand alone Broadband Internet)
$169.44

Common Channels between Cable HD and VOOM: (East and West Coast feeds are redundant and unnecessary with a DVR):
ABC-HD
CBS-HD
FOX-HD
NBC-HD
HBO-HD
SHO-HD
CINEMAX-HD
STARZ-HD
ESPN-HD
DISC-HD

HD Channels Unique to Cable HD:
HDNET
HDN MOVIES
INHD1
INHD2

HD Channels Unique to VOOM:
21 VOOM HD Exclusives (would miss to an unknown degree)
TMC-HD (don't subscribe)
ENCORE-HD (will miss, but I subscriptions to HBO and Cinemax should negate)
BRAVO-HD (won't miss at all)
TNT-HD (may miss a few things, but this will be picked up by Cable shortly)
PLAYBOY-HD (don't subscribe)

As you can see from the above, selecting VOOM over Cable would basically give me the VOOM Exclusives for $55 more per month (2005 pricing model) or $36 (my wishful pricing model). Offhand, the VOOM Exclusives are not worth it since I already have more than enough programming to watch. Like I said, I love VOOM and actually get a fair amount of use out of the Exclusives, but still most of our HD programming is via OTA and Cable does a much better job of pricing...there is only so much I am willing to pay for TV and there is only so much time I have to watch. I don't know what I am going to do in 2005, but I can honestly say that VOOM needs to look at their pricing model. Perhaps I would be willing to subscribe to VOOM as an add-on service without the SD channels.

Comments?

 

[Rick214]

"Will you stay when Voom raises rates?"

I didn't vote because I don't think my situation fit any of the polls choices.

It depends ....
I can't and won't make the decision until January. Who knows what will be changed by then?
If nothing has changed (DVR, desired channels) then I will have to look at my other programming choices and see what's best for me then. How can you choose today what you'll do 3 months from now? It depends.

 

[Kentstater72]

I voted to stay.
But I am pretty much in the same boat as riffjim4069.

I there is a DVR, no brainer, if not I am looking at the LG LST-3410A HD Digital ATSC/8VSB and QAM/Cable Receiver/Recorder.

I have just started toying with the idea of using my antenna for OTA HD in Toledo and Detroit, and subbing to the local cable company for SD's like Fox News, USA, and SciFi, as well as their discounted broadband.

 

[Claude Greiner]

To be honest with you I am not satisfied with Voom, considering the fact that they do not have a DVR. I really can't justify paying more than I am right now which is $125/mo for 3 receivers.

I know im paying almost $30/mo because im leasing the equipment, but in my opinion their receivers are garbage. For $100 I'll buy them outright, but I aint spending $500 for their crappy box.

If Voom gets a DVR, then I'll deffinitly Stay

One nice thing is that I setup my account at my PMB, so if they pull this crap where they are only going to offer DVR to new customers I'll cancel and open up a new account

 

[Walter L.]

I would say that I'm always open to what the V* competition may offer me. However, IMO, D* will only add TNT-HD, perhaps on time for the NBA season. I don't think that they'll add Startz-HD and/or Cinemax-HD until they add HD locals for every major US market. Besides that, I suspect that they will continue the "HD-Lite" strategy.

 

[vurbano]

I would say that I'm always open to what the V* competition may offer me. However, IMO, D* will only add TNT-HD, perhaps on time for the NBA season. I don't think that they'll add Startz-HD and/or Cinemax-HD until they add HD locals for every major US market. Besides that, I suspect that they will continue the "HD-Lite" strategy.

what is vooms resolution on all of its HD channels? How do we know they are doing 1920x1080i?

 

[gutter]

This is one of the worst written polls I have ever seen on here. If you vote "yes" you actual note "No" to VOOM. If you Vote "No", you actuall vote to say "yes" you will stay with VOOM.

Vurbano...you must be the one doing the polling for the Bush camp. lol

 

[vurbano]

This is one of the worst written polls I have ever seen on here. If you vote "yes" you actual note "No" to VOOM. If you Vote "No", you actuall vote to say "yes" you will stay with VOOM.

Vurbano...you must be the one doing the polling for the Bush camp. lol

I guess I and the republicans expect adults to have some level of reading comprehension. Yes i will leave or no i wont. Wow thats complicated stuff.

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

I will stay as long as the service stays as good, or improves. I am willing to pay more for improvements -- DVR, more HD channels (we have enough SD), broadcast networks in HD over satellite, or improved HD PQ.

But if they introduce TV commercials on the exclusives, or ruin the content, I will be gone if they raise the price or not.

Voom has been great! It will be awful if Dish gets their mits on Voom and trashes a good thing.

 

[Dvlos]

Vurbano you are always extremely cynical when something good is about to happen, last time it was the big firmware update... get real cynical about DVR please.

 

[vurbano]

Vurbano you are always extremely cynical when something good is about to happen, last time it was the big firmware update... get real cynical about DVR please.

What DVR? No one has even seen a production prototype and you are sitting waiting for a DVR? too funny.

 

[The Stone Man]

As Mr. Vurbano so eloquently states, it is time for Voom to xxxx or get off the pot. A lot of people have been waiting for the October improvements, and today is October 25th. All we've heard is rumors, except for the fact that release 7.0B was discontinued due to customer complaints.

I voted for the third option because I'm getting close to the point where being a Voom customer is not fun anymore. It's been 10 months since I started, and the DVR is where? If D* follows through on their expected improvements and channel additions, they appear to have their act more together regarding equipment options and customer service. In the meantime, we are all in a holding pattern waiting to see what Voom actually will do, and the waiting is not fun for me.

 

[riffjim4069]

What DVR? No one has even seen a production prototype and you are sitting waiting for a DVR? too funny.

Besides pricing, several key questions need to be answered in order to evaluate VOOM for 2005 and beyond:

1. Is the first release of the DVR going to be a stand-alone version or will it be capable of Whole Home Networking (WHN)?
2. If the DVR enables WHN, will thin-clients be available at release?
3. Can we assume VOOM will require the DVR/thin-clients be professionally installed? If so, how much?

At last months CEDIA, wasn't the DVR nothing more than the UCentric software running on a Linux PC? And weren't the thin clients connected with RJ-11...plain old telephone wire? I understand this was a demonstration, but it seems to me the hardware platform is still several months away.

Also, more importantly, regardless of whether Coax or Cat5 (TCP/IP) is selected as the network transport, wouldn't the DVR/WHN require a complete rewiring by one of Installs Inc.'s well-loved and highly-respected installation professionals? OMG, if you thought the diplexer and OTA was a fiasco...just wait for these guys to string Coax/Cat5 through your home and then setup the network.

 

[Tvlman]

Absolutely I'll stay. Better than watching re-runs of Hogan's Heroes!!

 

[Dvlos]

What DVR? No one has even seen a production prototype and you are sitting waiting for a DVR? too funny.

OMG they must be about to release!