I think I've covered what the point was about 3 or 4 times in the thread. It was to gauge the perceived value of VOOM to E*'s HD subs. If subs were given the option of having HD for $10 or HD w/VOOM for $20, and a goodly percentage of them would still pay the $20, then that shows that the VOOM tier is seen as having significant value.
I was surprised by how many said yes, they would pay the extra $10/month for VOOM.
I like the VOOM channels and RUSH HD is one of my favorites. I also like EQUATOR and World Sports for the Soccer games. I hate HD NEWS channel and I am surprised it is surviving. All in all I would give VOOM channels a 7 out of 10.
VOOM HDNews is one of those channels that has left me scratching my head the past three years thinking how it could have been really good (certainly filled a niche market)...if only they had invested a little more time and money in the production. I really like some of the VOOM channels (especially Cinema10), but VOOM has always been the proverbial chicken vs. the egg: VOOM would spend money producing new and innovative content as they gain subscribers; however, VOOM cannot gain new subscribers since cable or DirecTV did not have the bandwidth to support adding 15 or 21 HD channels; Rainbow Media shoots themselves in the foot by not making a few of their more popular channels available to Cable systems (RAVE, Monsters, WorldSport, etc.) - it was the "whole ball of wax" or nothing. Heck, I have no doubt they would have been carried by Verizon FiOS last spring if only they would have offered a scaled-down version of VOOM HD. Here's a variety package I would to see offered on FiOS:
- MonstersHD
- RAVE
- VOOM Sports (compilation of WorldSport and RushHD)
- VOOM Cinema (compilation of FilmFest and FamilyRoom)
- VOOM Grabass (variety of all other channels)
One can only wonder about the terms and conditions of the VOOM/Dish Network partnership.
I do believe that the Voom channels account for $10.00 of the $20.00 hd pack. Because if you look back they added 10 Voom channels origionally and only upped the price by 5.00. Then they added 5 more voom channels and the price for hd went from $14.99 to $20.00. Dish is invested in Voom so they have to charge the extra $10.00 to make up for the price somewhere.
No. I want all the channels I can get. Would like to see the "Gunslinger" channel. I also want more HD channels available like encore HD; Cinemax HD. When will the Encore Western channel go HD? TCM in HD would be a most welcome edition. Hallmark HD would be good but only if it is not the Matlock, McBride; Perry Mason channel like the SD version is.