VOOM Continues Marketing - Gaining New Subscribers

[bradley]

Given the airing of VOOM infomercials that were not limited to my own market this weekend I chose to call VOOM sales. I was greeted by an enthusiastic gentleman. These individuals who handle the sales call center are recently subcontracted employees who do not work for VOOM directly. The gentleman said they had signed up 140 new subscribers on Sunday, January 30, 2005, alone.

Now, I'm scratching my head, just as you are, wondering just what the hell is going on here?

Logic would dictate that Cablevision must keep VOOM DBS a viable business because if they were to simply shut it down the assets could become less valuable as we all wait for the analysis from the perspective agencies required for regulatory approval.

I have written the FCC and have asked two specific questions 1.) how long does the Commission expect the process to authorize the transfer of assets to take place and 2.) is Cablevision required to keep VOOM DBS operational during the process? I have yet to receive a reply.

The gentleman I spoke to is under the understanding VOOM DBS will continue to operate as usual. All new subscribers are obligated to a minimum 6-month contractual obligation. The 70-channel HD expansion and hundreds of SD channels is still on schedule for March'05.

What can we expect? Who knows at this juncture?

It would appear the writing is on the wall… and it is over. But let me remind you this is a very bizarre story. There are still the obligated assets of so called Rainbow 2 which, by the way, is just a few transponders leased by VOOM DBS on another satellite. It is feasible, with MPEG4 technology, VOOM DBS, if it truly wanted to, continue.

The continued infighting of both family and the board of Cablevision makes 'The Apprentice" appear to be mere child's play.

The gentleman also stated it was VOOM's intention to follow through with the remaining satellite orders with Lockheed/Martin.

CVC board meets today regarding the remaining assets.

Very, very bizarre indeed.

 

[SactoCal]

The gentleman said they had signed up 140 new subscribers on Sunday, January 31, 2005, alone.

And today is Monday, January 32, 2005?

 

[Bruce]

Given the airing of VOOM infomercials that were not limited to my own market this weekend I chose to call VOOM sales. I was greeted by an enthusiastic gentleman. These individuals who handle the sales call center are recently subcontracted employees who do not work for VOOM directly. The gentleman said they had signed up 140 new subscribers on Sunday, January 30, 2005, alone.

Except for the date, I really hope that the CSR does not think that 140 new sub number is a good thing.

 

[darthsammy]

im sure they were given their script saturday

 

[Ncc1701]

Originally Posted by bradley
The gentleman said they had signed up 140 new subscribers on Sunday, January 31, 2005, alone.


Look at that. Charlie must be a genius. He's already signed up 10 times more subs in one day than Cablevision did all last month

 

[hbk409]

Originally Posted by bradley
The gentleman said they had signed up 140 new subscribers on Sunday, January 31, 2005, alone.


Look at that. Charlie must be a genius. He's already signed up 10 times more subs in one day than Cablevision did all last month

where are you getting these numbers from? i can assure you that cablevision signed up well over 5,000 subs,actually they had more then 45k subs sign up in the month of december.

 

[T2k]

Nowhere - it's called talking out of your bottom part.

 

[James Long]

One positive for new subscribers is that there is a pretty good chance they won't have to live up to their commitment. The $1 offer forces Voom to pay Installs Inc. to do a lot of work that won't show a lot of return on investment. But nobody has told Voom to stop. Yet.

This is a company that was showing a decline in subscriber count last fall ... even though E* failed to follow through on HD and D* was only beginning to announce their grand plans. For some reason Voom was losing subscribers and have lost 20% of those who have tried Voom. Not good for long term profits.

JL

 

[VMI]

VOOM lost subscibers because there install procedures were a mess and the customer support for current customers was terrible. Make no mistake about it, VOOM does not struggle to get customers. As for the 140 subs on Sunday, that's one day and at what time. Remember, VOOM also gets subs through their distribution arm and BrandSmart. I know for a fact the distribution side has been pushing more equipment than ever out the door to dealers. VOOM's problem was they had too many customers then couldn't install them fast enough or when they did install them they over charged them or something like that. Also, the off air antenna has made a few customers quite but it's small in comparison to the above reasons.

If VOOM could fix the basics they would do well. Let's wait and see.

 

[mikbro]

VOOM lost subscibers because there install procedures were a mess and the customer support for current customers was terrible.

I am not sure I agree 100% with this... I have read installation horror stories from DirecTV, Dish and other little dish providers (in Canada). In fact, doesn't Voom contract with the same installers thru Installs Inc that also perform local DirecTV and Dish installations? Being a Directv and Dish customer on and off since '96 I also remember TERRIBLE customer support from DirecTV and Dish ESPECIALLY for the first several years of their existance - and I imagine if you read forums today - you will still see your share of problems with both of those providers.

I think two things hurt them more than anything else:
1. No self installs. I understand the reasoning - but come on - you are appealing to a videophile crowd already - a user base the is as likely as anyone to have the desire and ability to do their own install.

2. At launch you had to buy the equipment - when other providers such as DirecTV and Dish were giving it away. For a lot of people the cost to get into the technology is a big deal (especially something new)- now they are offering the $1 installs (which I took advantage of) but it may be too late.

These two items conspired to limit your retail channel to (primarily) Sears. If Voom had offered self installs and $1 (or <$50) hardware with minimum commitment it probably would have been easier for them to get a wider distribution channel from the get-go.

 

[VMI]

Good points and I have to agree that those were contributing factors.

 

[r.jones1116]

I e-mailed Voom right after their launch in 4th quarter 2003. I had visited the website and thought I got to have this but I can't afford (nor is the wife gonna let me) for $799.99. I told them if they would do as all DBS providers do and do at least a $49.99
install and lease the equipment I would become a Voomer. Six months later I was a Voomer.

 

[bbtkd]

Given the airing of VOOM infomercials that were not limited to my own market this weekend I chose to call VOOM sales. I was greeted by an enthusiastic gentleman. These individuals who handle the sales call center are recently subcontracted employees who do not work for VOOM directly. The gentleman said they had signed up 140 new subscribers on Sunday, January 30, 2005, alone.
.

Well - I cancelled on Sunday so that's 139 net. I'll bet their cancellation rate is way up, perhaps higher than their new subscriber rate...

 

[gutter]

bbtkd....I think your wrong.

 

[Sean Mota]

Well - I cancelled on Sunday so that's 139 net. I'll bet their cancellation rate is way up, perhaps higher than their new subscriber rate...

How would you know? Do you work in their billing department? Or is it just your opinion of what you think it is?

 

[James Long]

How would you know? Do you work in their billing department? Or is it just your opinion of what you think it is?

One of Cablevision's investor releases late last year noted that Voom had leveled off on subscriber count and actually lost subscribers in the prior quarter.

I wonder if they managed to turn that around for the last quarter. We should be getting some reports soon. Will it be higher than the last reported number of 26,000? Will it be below 20k? The trend was downward.

JL

 

[Mr.Poindexter]

It trended downwards for a couple of reasons:

#1 - They purged their system of people who were not paying for the service. This resulted in a lot of people dropping from the numbers who don't represent a loss in revenue since they were not paying. Many of them joined for the few months of free service and just hung around until they got the boot. Calling them subs was sort of like the RIAA calling 12 year olds who download $10K worth of songs as "lost revenue."

#2 - They had stopped advertising during much of the period in question.

 

[gutter]

. Will it be higher than the last reported number of 26,000? Will it be below 20k? The trend was downward.

JL

You only wish. Each day that passes and VOOM adds subs and services is another hole in your logic.

 

[James Long]

You only wish. Each day that passes and VOOM adds subs and services is another hole in your logic.

And when the next numbers are posted you will probably be eating crow -
Adding subs is only part of the puzzle. Keeping subs is their problem.

JL

 

[r.jones1116]

The last number I saw was 40,000+. It will probably be 50K by end of February and when new channels are added all you naysayers will be eating crow.