VOOM Goes BOOM - update Dish Drops all 15 VOOM Channels

**drummerguy** · 05-13-2008 09:24 AM

To me, it's obvious that Dish didn't remove these 10 Vooms to make room for the new HD channels. They had all the Vooms plus the new HD channels running at the same time for 7 hours last night. Seems to me, they would have had to remove the Vooms first, then add the new channels, if it was a space/bandwidth issue.

This strikes me as a hardball scare tactic (as others have said). Either Dish is telling Voom to uphold their end of the contract by spending the required amount of money on programming all 15 channels, or they're telling Voom to consolidate their channels to five, and Dish has taken the first step in taking down 10 of the channels. If Voom were smart (not sure how smart they are

), they'd consolidate their programming into the remaining five channels and create five potentially kick-ass channels.

**tsduke** · 05-13-2008 09:25 AM

Originally Posted by butzchan

LOL!

Yeah, if Voom goes bye, Dish loses any leverage it had against the competition.

As much as anyone in here may like Voom channels I don't think it will hurt E* if they lost them.

**Jeffro34tx** · 05-13-2008 09:28 AM

Originally Posted by Cyclone

I've read them. But in the big picture there won't be enough people effected to matter. These irreplacable channels are going to be replaced by MTV, VH1, Nick and Spike in short order, and by Fox News and SpeedHD eventually.

Winds of change. I expect HDNet to suffer a similar fate.

I DO NOT expect HDNET to suffer the same fate. Unlike VOOM, HDNET is producing original programming and keeping it fresh. It would be a HUGE mistake in my opinion if they start to mess with HDNET. I highly doubt it, as they wouldn't have given it a mapdown.

**Jeffro34tx** · 05-13-2008 09:29 AM

Originally Posted by tsduke

As much as anyone in here may like Voom channels I don't think it will hurt E* if they lost them.

Especially if they turn around and add the other remaining National HD channels. In my opinion, I believe they will be adding those pretty soon.

*I have nothing to base this on, of course.

**Scott Greczkowski** · 05-13-2008 09:32 AM

Originally Posted by HokieEngineer

Swanni is such an idiot. The 20 new channels were already up there before they "removed" the voom channels. The voom channels are still there, just not available to subscribers.

I was shaking my head when I saw what he wrote.

**Hemi 6.1** · 05-13-2008 09:32 AM

Originally Posted by tsduke

As much as anyone in here may like Voom channels I don't think it will hurt E* if they lost them.

I don't think so either., Infact it makes me want them more . Voom is a joke to begin with. Clean out the garbage and put in some real networks. BYE BYE VOOM!

**briani** · 05-13-2008 09:34 AM

I guess I'm partially to blame for this! I never watched these channels....ever! However, I do watch Rave and Equator quite often. Obviously, I will not miss those channels. I would like to see Dish replace those channels with HD feeds of premium channels(HBO, Starz, etc.) I don't currently Sub to any of them, but I might consider them if they offered more then one HD channel.

**Hemi 6.1** · 05-13-2008 09:35 AM

Originally Posted by briani

I guess I'm partially to blame for this! I never watched these channels....ever! However, I do watch Rave and Equator quite often. Obviously, I will not miss those channels. I would like to see Dish replace those channels with HD feeds of premium channels(HBO, Starz, etc.) I don't currently Sub to any of them, but I might consider them if they offered more then one HD channel.

Cinemax has 3 now,and you can get it for a low as a penny.

**riffjim4069** · 05-13-2008 09:36 AM

Originally Posted by butzchan

LOL!

Yeah, if Voom goes bye, Dish loses any leverage it had against the competition.

Put down those E* pom-poms. Fact: While DirecTV continues to add new customers (275,000 during 1st quarter) and control churn, Dish Network is getting ready to post their first ever net subscriber loss. Likewise, Verizon FiOS is on their way to adding 1.2 million TV subscribers during 2008. While many of Verizon's customers are coming from cable, a fair number are coming from Dish Network...yet, very few are coming from DirecTV.

A VOOM-less and continued HD-less (aka DishHD-Lite) cannot bode well for Dish Network churn.

**Scott Greczkowski** · 05-13-2008 09:39 AM

Originally Posted by HokieEngineer

The only thing I can think of is that they have been monitoring the usage of the voom channels for awhile, and decided that the few viewers that actually watched them were expendable, if they decided to quit over voom.

I dont have any proof that they have been doing this, but it would be quite easy to put something in the firmware of the ViP receivers to do so, and beam the results back with the nightly phone home.

Removing channels without a PR or a warning is BAD BUSINESS in my opinion.

Yes Dish does do this. They have admitted it in the past. Search for Google and Dish Network and you can see that they actually monitor and can tell advertisers how many people actually seen their ad on Dish Network.

Big Brother is definately watching.