How long 'til Voom goes dark?

[FrankJo]

Unfortunately folks, Voom may go dark pretty damn soon. Possibly within days. Even though the sale of the satellite needs to be approved by the SEC (which it will have no problem getting - there are no competition issues here), Cablevision may want to get it shut down ASAP. If there has been this much uproar at Cablevision to get rid of it, my hunch is that they are going to want cut the cord as soon as possible. The sooner it stops broadcasting, the sooner CVC can move on and stop bleeding money.

Sorry folks, my guess is Voom won't be around for the Super Bowl.

 

[slacker9876]

Frank ... the SEC has nothing to do with it. The FCC is the government agency that will grant approval. Voom will probably never go dark anyway, the lineup will just change and then Dish customers that have HD equipment will probably get the signal.

 

[FrankJo]

Slack,

E* only bought the sat and uplink facilities. They did not purchase any of the content, or production capabilities of VOOM. CVC will have no interest in continuing to broadcast.

The SEC may have a look at the actual sale. The FCC will also have something to do with the sale as well, and allocation of signals.

The transaction is subject to review by the Federal Communications Commission and other regulatory agencies.

-the above quote is from the E* press release

 

[Bruce]

The SEC is who told cablevision no to the spin-off, so they just might have something to say, as far as the FCC is concerned, just think when D* took over Primestar when it was going down, should be no problems.

 

[riffjim4069]

Although E* only announced the purchase of Rainbow-1 and the uplink facility, it may be possible that certain programming arrangements are in the works. I still say there would be an immediate demand for a handful of VOOM's branded HD channels: Monsters HD, RAVE HD, Equator HD, etc.

I doubt this sale happened overnight; it appears to have been in the works for a month or more. Didn't E* almost lose their Rainbow Media channels a few weeks back (WE, IFC, AMC, etc.)? If so, perhaps a deal was struck which we are not privy to at this time? Maybe they offered to pay $200M for the above Rainbow assets and agreed to purchase some exclusive programming.

Grasping at straws! We shall see...

 

[FrankJo]

Programming

I know for a fact that programming was not a part of the deal. Just the satellite and uplink facility.

This does not mean that there may not be a deal for programming in the future.

 

[lsujay]

I wonder why Voom never sold any advertising rights on the exclusive channels... that's a revenue stream that was never tapped.

I will definitely miss Rave and Equator... If they would have added a sports package (i.e. Fox Sports Package) they would have had a lot more subs. That's the reason that I've heard for people (personal friends) not coming aboard the most.

I will miss Voom...

 

[mike123abc]

The transfer of ownership of the satellite and uplink facility should happen very fast. It is an asset that is being sold, not a business. It is not very much different from one company selling another company a toaster.

The sticking point is the 11 TP frequencies that VOOM wants to sell Echostar. The transfer of these is highly controlled by the FCC and who knows what the FCC will think.

 

[mkwillia]

Preparing for Voom outage

I remember seeing a comparitive chart on different providers and the HD content they transmit. Can someone post the link to that info.

Thanks in advance,
Mike

 

[BFG]

You mean sean's PDF file? linked on the voom homepage...

But if you need a specific provider just ask I've got them memorized

 

[mkwillia]

My options are D*, E*, and Comcast. I am in Atlanta.

I can't find the link.

 

[vurbano]

I know for a fact that programming was not a part of the deal. Just the satellite and uplink facility.

This does not mean that there may not be a deal for programming in the future.

Source?

 

[FrankJo]

Dark soon or Voom recreated

My guess (and i've been pretty good so far) is that the longer that voom stays on the air, the better the chance that something is in the works for it to be sold off as a working enterprise.

Scenario 2 is that RDBS maintains the rights and facilities, and converts the exclusive channels into a HDNet or INHD type of deal (on a smaller scale than Voom). The problem with this that they no longer have a satellte. What I don't know is if they can shrink the channels by half or more, and lease space somewhere else. (I know a company that just got a new satellite that may be interested in some programming!)

My suspicion is that the real drain on CVC was the infrastructure involved, not producing content with VOOM. This may be a way for C. Dolan to keep his vision alive on a smaller scale.

Whaddya think about that!

Either way, Voom, as you know it, is going away, sooner or later.

 

[FrankJo]

Vurbano,

read the E* press release from the Echostar site, not the DishNetwork site. You'd be surprised at how someone is willing to email you back with an answer to a question.

 

[mkwillia]

Found it, thanks

 

[warkovision]

So Where Do We Go From Here?

Adelphia Cable in Los Angeles is hopeless (no HD in sight.) That leaves *D or *E. Does *D make the most sense because they're adopting the Ucentric software? Or is their application of it not anything like what VOOM was intending? How bad are the compression/pq issues with those two? This is a real drag. I was quite pleased with VOOM. My plan right now is to just wait and see what happens.

 

[BFG]

Well the PDF is kinda outdated but here are the companies pages:

D* http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/imagine/HDTV.dsp
HDNet, HDNEt Movies, Discovery, ESPN, Universal HD, HBO, Showtime, Spice HD, and select FSN HD games.
Plus being in Atlanta will get you the HD network affiliate from new york for Fox.

E* http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/hdtv/index.shtml
HDNet, HDNEt Movies, Discovery, ESPN, TNTHD, HBO, Showtime

Comcast - http://www.comcast.com/ put in your zip code and you'll see what they got. Nationally they carry INHD, INHD2, ESPN, Discovery, plus premiums, all vary by market.

 

[negreenfield]

Found it, thanks

Where? I'm still looking. Comcast Atlanta still has no ABC...

 

[mkwillia]

For the record.....This SUCKS

 

[Kentstater72]

Try this site.
It appears echostar wants more than the satellite.

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000303028426/