Hall, put down your Echostar pom poms...I never said VOOM didn't do anything wrong. However, I do not feel that Echostar's actions are appropriate...nor are they ethically motivated.Who's wrong here ? If you'd read the document, you'd see that VOOM is. The agreement was that VOOM would spend $100 million on programming (?) and in return, Dish would pay them the agreed amounts. Dish audited VOOM and found they had NOT spent the agreed amount. VOOM didn't dispute it either !
So it's okay for VOOM to break the terms of the deal ? Dish is the bad buy, of course....
Yeah, but other then premium movie channels, most of those so-called HD channels have little to no HD right now. At least, inspite of lots of repeats, Voom is all HD all the time. I would be sad to see it go.
I still shake my head at all of the energy I put in to being frustrated by not having Sci Fi HD, and then when I get it... other then BSG, not much HD at all..
I am curious if maybe dish and voom worked something out because lately the programming has been better.
I actually think voom is hurting dish more than what any of you realize. Voom has been showing nothing but repeats for a while now. They obviously haven't been putting money twards programming as their library shows it. Now if they were to get rid of them, dish has the space to add 12 additional HD channels that gives them the room to compete with D* and possibly gain the HD leader status back until D* fires back. Who wants to watch repeats? Voom maybe able to still market monsters HD, and sell its rave programming to MHD, which they do already. Now, dish could potentally settle down the Voom crowd by adding Chiller HD. I think we all agree that monsters HD is the only channel on Voom that is really worth while.
I don't think it is because they worked out a deal. I think this would be an effort on VOOM's behalf to try and keep things fresh because they know that Dish did the audit and DISH believed that VOOM hadn't kept up on their part of the deal.
If your company was about to lose it's primary source of revenue due to the fact that it was non compliant on a particular issue, wouldn't you try to resolve that issue? Especially if you were going to court for that very reason.
Remember, we are seeing this notice now, but the original issue came up sometime late last year. It should be expected that VOOM try and show some content changes. It's just too bad that it had to come to this for VOOM to do the things it promised to do.
(I wonder what the the audit really showed.)
I opted to save fifty bucks, drop all the SD, and keep VOOM.I think the situation is that the amount of subs to voom no longer amounts to profit on dish. I know there are those here that love voom here but lets face it, money talks. Now that the subs have a choice of hd packs most have opted to save 10 bucks.
I'm happy about Sci-Fi HD. You didn't seriously expect it to have alot of HD content, do you? I view it as an uncompressed SD channel, with some HD offerings. Some of their TV movies, and BSG have HD along with a couple of other shows. However, the standard def shows look worlds better. Doctor Who, for example. I recorded the same episode from both the standard def and HD channels. The HD version looked worlds better - almost DVD quality, and Doctor Who isn't even filmed in HD. They simply didn't trash the PQ, and broadcasted it as it was. So we got it in "true SD" Hey, it's better than a poke in the eye.
I think the situation is that the amount of subs to voom no longer amounts to profit on dish. I know there are those here that love voom here but lets face it, money talks. Now that the subs have a choice of hd packs most have opted to save 10 bucks.
I agree that "true SD" makes some "HD" channels a better value, but....
Personally, I'd rather have a whole bunch of MPEG4 SD channels in "true digital quality" than a few pseudo-HD channels that show 90-95% SD. For example, FX comes to mind. We watch quite a few shows on FX that would, undoubtably, be better in HD. However, if Charlie and FOX can't come to terms on the HD channel, how about a good-quality SD channel, at least? How many of those could you put on a transponder? (And, yes, I know that "eastern arc" might address this.)
Brad
Whether the error was intentional is irrelevant since VOOM asserts the affiliate agreement contained "cure provisions" that could be invoked should VOOM fail to meet the spending requirements. Echostar contends that VOOMs failing to meet the spending requirement triggers a termination right. While this may certainly be true for repeat offenses, I do not see how this one-time failure cannot be remedied via the cure provisions: VOOM permitted to make up past spending deficiencies or reimburse Echostar the difference.