Cablevision Board To Debate Voom Fate

[vurbano]

Yup Scott, it is time to spill everything you know.

 

[Lobstah]

The fewer subscribers, the harder to sell, so I'd think they'd keep it up and running for a while anyway.
Of course, the other way to look at it is the # of subscribers is actually the failure, and what you're selling is the technology, so why keep it up and running.

Lob

 

[vurbano]

And my answer to that:


http://www.satelliteguys.us/showpost.php?p=273480&postcount=1

Sean corrected me on that issue. You really should read more.

 

[rad]

VOOM is now on life support. It is just a matter of time. Does anyone think they will at least keep the service running while they try and sell it ?

One post I say mentioned that the board has authorized funding to keep the service up until the end of the month only.

 

[rad]

In an e-mail from HDTV Magazine they bring up a good point on why this may be happening now. Recently board members of Worldcom and Enron have had to pay out of their own pockets for losses at those two companies. So the thinking is that the Cablevision board is worried that someone might come after them since V* is taking such a bath and the only thing keeping is going is the elder Dolan, the business case to keeping it going isn't adding up. So why should they put their necks out on the line for someones pet project, let it die and cover their a**.

 

[jimmykce1]

This is bad news. Now I have to either go with Direct TV or Cox. I know Cox in my area only has CBS HD. They don't have NBC/ABC/Fox/etc. that I currently get with Voom.

 

[vurbano]

This is bad news. Now I have to either go with Direct TV or Cox. I know Cox in my area only has CBS HD. They don't have NBC/ABC/Fox/etc. that I currently get with Voom.

There is also Dish.

 

[calikarim]

Charles dolan has cards up sleeve

I don't believe voom is going down. Isn't this the zillionth time people have predicted the demise of voom and it is still going. Charles Dolan is the founder of Cablevision, not his son James. He holds the Ace and can fire the board including his son. Cablevision can absorb the losses. Remember all loses are tax deductible against profits, so i think this is an accounting issue at best.

Voom will survive, either under the reigns of Cablevision, or a white knight that will rescue it. 75 million in loses a quarter is pocket change to corporate america. The US itself is 6 trillion in debt, has a budget deficit of 125 billion annually, and we havent filed for bankrupcy. The Iraq war is costing over $150 billion and we are not leaving anytime soon. A good cause requires patience to reap the rewards, and the voom board needs to understand Dolan Sr vision.

I also believe we should get James dolan's email and EVERY VOOM SUBSCRIBER SHOULD EMAIL HIM TELLING HIM HOW MUCH WE LOVE VOOM. He underestimates the power of the service and the loyalty of its following. Lets organize a chain massive email to James and rest of board to tell them of our feelings for Voom.

 

[CDH]

If VOOM were to shut down this would be sad news for all DBS subscribers. VOOM remains the only real HD alternative. It is the one service that E* and D* customers are switching to instead of cable. WIthout VOOM providing this competition, E* and D* will continue dragging their feet in terms of rolling out HD.

My hope would be that if Cablevision bails that another group of investors would buy it at garage sale prices. Perhaps having lower fixed costs they could then continue to grow it.

I agree with this sentiment, but it doesn't look good, does it? In terms of selling Voom is it really likely that anyone who buys it will keep it intact? Unless some media or communications company were to want to get into the DBS business (Sprint? Microsoft? GE? Vivendi? Deutsche Telekom? NTT?), surely it is more likely that even if there is a single buyer then they will split up the assets (satellite, lease on Rainbow 2, etc.) and sell those separately rather than operating Voom as a single entity? Is there no chance that Dolan pere will ditch some of his Cablevision stock and buy Voom himself?

And though it will take time, the other DBS companies will *have* to move to more HD at some point. Won't they? As other companies upgrade capacity maybe Cablevision can put energies into developing HD content channels that they can shop to multiple customers (Cable, DirecTV, and Dish) such as HD IFC or other movie channels, Equator, etc.

I'm still optimistic. My hope is that Cablevision will want to keep things running at least until a sale can be worked out. Personally I'll be in with Voom until the screen goes black, which I hope will be later rather than sooner. With no decent HD cable in the area and a (quite possibly irrational) distate for all things Murdoch I guess that leaves Dish if/when the time comes.

CDH.

 

[Lucky]

Scott or Sean,

Any comments ? You guys have been the optimistic ones that seem to have inside information. I was wondering if you are still optimistic about VOOM's survival.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Well while the news sounds bad, I know from running this site that something is up. I am able to see who is looking at what and where they are from. I know something is up at Cablevision and I know Cablevision is spending MILLIONS on a brand new uplink for VOOM which is almost complete, plus VOOM just started the process of switching out its moterola encoders in favor of Harmonic encoders.

They wouldn't be expanding and spending the money to expand if they did not have something up their sleave.

Should we be concerned? I would say so, however the news does not mean you should dump VOOM, infact if VOOM is purchased by someone else you might find yourself in line for some very good deals from other providers all because your a VOOM customer.

So stick in there and wait it out and enjoy the most HDTV possible today on VOOM.

 

[rad]

They wouldn't be expanding and spending the money to expand if they did not have something up their sleave.

And then again, maybe not. It all depends on how much day to day oversight the board had on expendatures. It could be that the sr Dolan was approving all this while the younger was engineering the board for the sale or shutdown. Take it from one that was working for a sinking company, money was still being spend because some VP somewhere wanted something, even though it made no sense, nobody wanted to say no.

 

[Lobstah]

They don't have NBC/ABC/Fox/etc. that I currently get with Voom.

Those are OTA channels, not VOOM channels. You can continue to get them with or without VOOM...you just need an OTA tuner.

Lob

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I should note that I was just contacted today by VOOM and they wish to advertise in February.

Thats a good sign to me.

 

[Indy]

I will visit this scenario again since the last time I suggested it no one noticed. Charles Dolan sold off a bunch of stock in Cablevision a few weeks ago. I have no idea what this guy can raise in the way of cash on a personal basis.

Has anyone considered that just maybe Charles Dolan is posturing himself to make a buy of Dish Network or a major buy in? This would make more sense to me than selling Voom. Charlie Ergan would still have Echostar and the hardware end of things and that seems to be his interest. He is unveiling plasma displays and all sorts of things he is in the middle of. Just a legitimate thought IMHO.

 

[vurbano]

I should note that I was just contacted today by VOOM and they wish to advertise in February.

Thats a good sign to me.

Maybe their advertising dept hasnt heard yesterdays news yet?

 

[Lucky]

I should note that I was just contacted today by VOOM and they wish to advertise in February.

Thats a good sign to me.

I would think the people that handle the advertising will get the news from the executives just like we will. They will just continue with Business as Usual until they are told otherwise.

 

[Sean Mota]

topics merged

 

[David Dietzel]

In one form or another, VOOM will likely survive. Many of us are leasing the equipment and the services is paid month-to-month so even if they did totally vaporize most of us would not be hurt money-wise. I'd miss seeing Thunderbirds in HD, tho! However, once again, it's pretty unlikely VOOM will vaporize -- 2005 is the year that HDTV will reach critical mass in terms of sets sold and available HD content -- much like DVD players reached critical mass a few years ago and now many people have multiple DVD players. VOOM is positioned to do well. The DVR will make or break the company.

 

[bbrukx]

In this age of many boards getting sued over not doing their job, the board is not going to allow Charles to spend billions on his pet project.

As much I would like for Voom to succeed, the DBS market is too mature. Don't forget D* and E* got all the low hanging fruit during the past ten years. Any new customer is very expensive to get now, why do you think you get all these credits and incentives when you threaten to switch? Plus the nice competitive advantage they have with their HDTV service is going to be gone in about 6 months when D* rolls out their MPEG4 based HDTV service, in time for the holiday season when I think HDTV will make it's big breakthrough for the masses (current penetration of HDTV is less than 20%).

My bet is E* will buy Voom...