Another rabbit in C. Dolan's hat?

[Indy]

I just have to speak my two cents worth after numerous phone conversations and reading between the lines. I believe we have to infer from what IS NOT being said more than what is that something is up. The vibes I am getting from Voom is "Oh boy I wish I could spill the beans!"

Think about this. Voom and Cablevision already covered their butts in the fine print concerning their obligations to deliver a service or product and their sole discretion to terminate that service or product whenever and however they choose.

This is where you need to read between the lines. If they are going to stop the service they would have pulled the plug and locked the doors with no notice to us or the employees. The apologies would have come after the fact. This is business and nice has no part of the decision process. If the vote is to close you walk over to the equipment rack and pull the plug. You don't give anyone a 30 day notice to do so. Money is money and that 30 days is costing millions of dollars. The due notice to us has been the struggle within Cablevision up till now.

I am more than 50% sure a transition of Voom 21 to another provider or business as usual on another satellite shortly after the May1 deadline to close.

If the closer is for real and the Voom 21 programming is done on May 1 I will bring the crow out for all of you to see me eat. Just can not decide what wine I want to serve with it yet. Hmmm.. maybe a nicely chilled bottle of MD 20-20?

 

[mdonnelly]

Indy, you're setting yourself up for a fall. When the end comes (and it will), have a bottle of anti-depressants handy.

 

[Indy]

Indy, you're setting yourself up for a fall. When the end comes (and it will), have a bottle of anti-depressants handy.

I am willing to accept the exit of Voom if it happens. After all it is only TV. All I am saying is the Dolan's do not play hardball with any rules I have ever seen and it would not surprise me in the least to see this story go on for a few more chapters.

 

[branchbouncer]

Would be nice if you are right,I'll keep fingers and toes crossed,just in case I'll bring the Djon and I have a great bottle of Pinot Noir.Good luck on the thoughts

 

[lostcause]

I don't buy it. They kept it going for 30 days because to just pull the plug would have impacted cablevision very negatively. If they had something up their sleeve, they would have pulled it out already. Think about it. A good percentage of their very small base has already, or is in the process of signing contracts with other services. How many of those will be willing to pay all types of cancellation fees and eat equipment fees for whatever hardware they may be buying, in order to go back to a company that could close again at the drop of a hat?

It's not going to happen. It's over for voom. As for the voom 21, who knows....

 

[Sean Mota]

Very hard to believe that there's still a rabbit somewhere. As lostcause put it, each subscriber costs a lot of money to recruit. The damage has been done, not only to the current base but to any future subs as well. If somehow (which I doubt), they decide to start all over, they will need to change the name of the company because from a PR point of view the name is dead. I do not see how it will ever get back.

Just like Francona said yesterday at his PR conference... "I watch watch watch it and I don't know I don't know I don't know..."

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

I sure hope you are right, Indy. But what about all the CSR's and Voom employees posting here about losing their jobs? Are they all snickering and hiding something, too?

I really think this is the end. I only hope the Voom21 show up somewhere else down the road. I am not expecting anything upbeat as early as May 1. The only good news on May 1 will be how I will save about $95 a month. The rest of the news will be *very* sad.

 

[BLW]

Indy, I sure hope you are correct, with all that has transpired over the last 2 months, I wouldn't rule out anything at this point. I for one would sign up in a heart beat if a voom resurection came about. No, I am not referring to the Voom name but the voom broadcasting model. Everything else currently out there has no appeal to me or my 55" HDTV. I want HD and lots of it. I do not much care about SD programming after seeing all the HD on VOOM.

 

[Indy]

It's not going to happen. It's over for voom. As for the voom 21, who knows....

This is the major variable. What about Voom 21? Can it survive a s a stand alone HD add on? And if so how,where and from whom will it be available? I really believe we will have an answer here soon. I wait with anticipation!

 

[Juan]

They kept it going till the end of the month for bookkeeping reasons The dont want waste all that postage sending refund checks to 50k subscribers!!!

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

They kept it going till the end of the month for bookkeeping reasons The dont want waste all that postage sending refund checks to 50k subscribers!!!

Good point!

 

[jbphoenix]

I sure hope you are right, Indy. But what about all the CSR's and Voom employees posting here about losing their jobs? Are they all snickering and hiding something, too?

I spoke with a CSR today about any news of how, when or if they wanted the STB's back and I then asked him if he was going to be able to maintain another position within CVC and he said that several of the CSR's were contacted yesterday about the possibility of staying on with CVC after the V* shutdown.

However, it is not unusual for large companies to find other positions for people who they do want to keep after a subsidiary shuts down though.

 

[Indy]

They kept it going till the end of the month for bookkeeping reasons The dont want waste all that postage sending refund checks to 50k subscribers!!!

This may be a factor but out of 50k subs give or take a few, not many are on a pay by check basis. The majority are on credit card auto-pay as that was the main criteria for initial installation of Voom. Bookkeeping is not a real issue in this age of computerized billing. Although this could play a part of the 30 day rundown.

I still stand by my assertion something is brewing. The CSR's are not as final and bleak with their responses today as they were just after the announcement. They seem to be holding out some hope due to some news they are aware of that we are not privy to.

 

[Amphicar770]

Hmm, I seem to recall from Psychology 101 that the first stage of grief and dying is denial.

I hope you are right Indy but I fear that the end has indeed come.

Why give 30 days? The accounting issue is certainly a legitimate one. Likewise, imagine the complaints that would come pouring in to the FCC and elsewhere if they simply pulled the plug with no notice. That is a headache that CVC does not need or want. Finally, given the fight that went on, I suspect Charles had a certain appreciation for the customers who did support them and wanted to treat us as fairly as possible given the situation. Allowing your customers a few weeks to go elsewhere is simply the decent thing to do.

Some bits of the Voom programming *might* be picked up by cable or other sat providers. You will not see anyone taking on the whole package. As much as I love Voom, I do not see much of a market for Lab-HD.

She's dead Jim!!

 

[Indy]

Hmm, I seem to recall from Psychology 101 that the first stage of grief and dying is denial.

Boy does that take me back! My Psych 101 class at IU in the 70's. I know this dates me as a OLD fart but even the senile can be optimistic. Can't they?

 

[ksload]

I wish he did have a rabbit somewhere....it seems unlikely...I think it has gone too far. I have signed up with basic cable just to see how things shake out. I'm not going to sign a long term contract with Dish or DirecTv until they change their stance on HDTV.

I would suspect if we hear no news on the 18th...there will be none.

 

[mudpup2003]

I would love that to be true, however. If this was the case, why would voom contact its dealers, as i was one, and cancel our dealer numbers. If they were to survive, what are they gonna do? Call us dealers back up and say, oh sorry, wanna try again?

 

[salsadancer7]

I have posted 2 threads mentioning that I TOO think there is something going on. VOOM as we know it is dead, but something similar could be a brewing because Charles, IF he did start something anew, would be running the new 'thing' as a private company....with his money. I still feel there might be a BIG anouncement on that April 18th meeting......I am ALSO sure that if something DID start, that was similar to our familiar 'friend'...EVERYONE of us here would FLY to it like bees to honey! Everyone that I have read stating they signed up with someone else have said they did not need to sign-up with a long term deal...AND no $$$ upfront.....so, that squashes that whole thing about people NOT coming back....and those are my 2 cents...

 

[jimmykce1]

I wish Voom would of survivied, but its not going to. Voom has emailed customers, mailed out letters to customers, notified installers to return stb, and posted this message on the PG. Also I beleive many have already been making a transition to another provider.

Maybe a provider will pick up the Voom 21 exclusive channels in the future. Just have to wait and see.

 

[Voomin_Jim]

I sure hope you are right. I have been holding off contacting Comcast until the 18th. They do have a dish buy back offer going on right now. If son of Voom were to continue, I would sign on in a heartbeat.