Social Feed

If there was any one thing besides Wall Street's gloom and doom projected onto Voom that drove it to its present situation it was their relationship with Install's, Inc.; the most decisive factor in the equation.

Install's, Inc. was and is the outsourced contractor for Voom's installations nationally. They subsequently scheduled and distributed actual installation assignments to yet other groups who are established regionally who acted as go betweens in the process. Eventually the installation process would assign an independent contractor servicing a small geographical area to do the actual installation. And, unfortunately that independent contractor had little training and experience, especially when it came to capturing OTA (over-the-air) signals.

Another factor was Install's, Inc. lack of overall supervision, training, and monitoring of the installation process. There was little on going in regards to Q and A (quality assurance). For a company who's sole existence is dependent on servicing providers by facilitating the actual installation process to Voom and many other clients, it would appear Installs, Inc. was seemingly only interested in the revenues it could generate but failed to satisfy both client and end-user. Again, seriously alarming when you consider their sole existence is predicated on the aforementioned.

Hence, dissatisfied customers churn and abuse from primary all the way down to independent contractors.

Who really made money off this Voom venture? Well, Install's, Inc. and those that have or had relationships with them seem to have faired pretty damn well.

How?

My personal experience with the installation process finally ended a week ago, successfully I might add, after 11 (eleven) installation visits. Eleven! Eleven intrusions into my life, eleven schedule changes, eleven inconveniences, and countless phone calls to both Voom and Install's, Inc. Eleven times Install's, Inc. went back to Voom and billed them for absolutely incompetent and unjustifiable services. This process initiated in March of 2004 ending in January of 2005; eleven months later.

If it were not for the fact I was relentless in asserting as to making damn sure I got what I had paid for I would have canceled long, long ago. Just as those other Voom subscribers did.

In the process I made absolutely clear to Install's, Inc. what they were doing to Voom and end users was a crime and that they would ultimately be responsible as to the demise of Voom.

But, let's be real here. The buck doesn't stop there. What the most the painful aspect about all of this is that Chuck Dolan and the board at CVC had no one, and I mean absolutely no one at the helm that was qualified to see this venture through.

When CVC issued IPOs in an attempt to spin off Voom as an independent entity it read as a suicide note.

As of this writing, Voom is still viable and operating yet, the CVC board met Monday, January 31, 2005 suposidly to put end to Voom's fate and ultimately the bleeding of assets from CVC's vault. Indecisively, they now intend to meet tomorrow, Friday, February 3, 2005, which in turn, may seal the fait of Voom once and for all.

How will the FCC handle the sale to Echostar of Voom's physical assets such as the satellite, Rainbow 1, its orbital location, uplink facilities in South Dakota as well as the 11 frequencies? It's anyone's guess at this juncture.

Echostar's past attempts to acquire DirecTV and other frequencies have fallen on deaf ears at the Commission. What would make this attempt any different?

No one has a crystal ball that can predict the future, but I will say this… if Voom is taken down, its assets dispersed, no one person or entity in there right mind will enter this arena again without Walls Street's screws saying, remember, I told you so.

Need I remind you, Wall Street made the same assertions as to viability when Chuck Dolan began HBO and Ted Turner with CNN, and in the end, who prevailed?

Voom, for all its worth, is stunning, in both concept and presentation. With 39 HD channels including specialty programming of the likes of, but not limited to GalleryHD, EquatorHD, UltraHD, RaveHD, and the scheduled expansion in March'05 to over 70 HD as well as hundreds of SD channels, was without exception an exciting and a much needed option, not only to the HD market but SD as well. Voom is a real addition in an extremely limited marketplace. It brought jobs, tax revenues, stimulated growth, technology and ingenuity. It could have even helped stifle inflation in regards to fees and kept the DBS and cable industries in check. The benefits are countless.

What a very bitter pill.