Cablevision Chairman To Use Cash, Stock To Fund Voom
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Probably about 3/4 of the people I mention Voom to, never heard of it, the other 1/4 think its only for HD (here in CA). Voom really needs good marketing to get the ball rolling, both there packages are a great value and not to mention there stations. I have had Voom now for about 3 weeks and love it. I had cable, D* and E* and Voom wins hands down!....And thats only MonstersHD 
Good Post : but CA is not the whole US, I think to be FAIR And Balanced, you should understand NY and CA, are only 2 states, with a lot of people who live in apartments, and can't get VOOM, but in the other 48 it works well, don't you agree,dkag7 said:Probably about 3/4 of the people I mention Voom to, never heard of it, the other 1/4 think its only for HD (here in CA). Voom really needs good marketing to get the ball rolling, both there packages are a great value and not to mention there stations. I have had Voom now for about 3 weeks and love it. I had cable, D* and E* and Voom wins hands down!....And thats only MonstersHD
I agree, I just wanted to mention there lack of good marketing. Another point I forgot to mention was that Vooms own channels are comercial free. I did not know this when I signed on to voom....more icing on the cake! Here in CA we need to get the 24" dish because its on a low horizon, no big deal. I really hope they survive and I think they will. The only other option for me is C-Band (well not really, my town probably wont let me get the big dish). I am not sure how it is in other states, but many appartment buildings I see here have many dishes on each building...mostly E*'s.
Voom can't survive as an HD only resource. They can survive only by offering the most popular channels and an outstanding HD package as a bonus. Although growing, the number of HD TV's is not great. Most people could care less about HD. I consistently find my wife watching fuzzy Distant networks, when with only the flip of a remote, she can have them OTA in HD. I think most people are of that mindset. Sure, when we do get the HD on, she's like wow, or thats pretty. But it's not a priority.
I don't think Voom needs to offer crap like Bingo TV or 50 shopping channels, but to compete, they are going to have to offer the most popular channels, the most HD, the best Picture Quality and a DVR, and then be ready to loose money for several years to become profitable.
Once they start yanking subscribers from D & E, they might start adding HD, improving picture quality, etc. Then Voom may be in trouble again, the others have major infrastructure in place and are ready to battle.
I don't think Voom needs to offer crap like Bingo TV or 50 shopping channels, but to compete, they are going to have to offer the most popular channels, the most HD, the best Picture Quality and a DVR, and then be ready to loose money for several years to become profitable.
Once they start yanking subscribers from D & E, they might start adding HD, improving picture quality, etc. Then Voom may be in trouble again, the others have major infrastructure in place and are ready to battle.
I know enough about business to understand that you can't run one like you are the Federal Government, troll.calikarim said:
JL
Compared to where they need to be. No company can run that high of losses without revenue without having investors who are willing to foot the bills until the business does take off and move in to the positive column (or at least positive enough to attract investors that can return the investment of the original investors).cfarm said:
It's not my job to save Voom. If you have all the answers, contact Charles Dolan. I'm just pointing out that Voom has not succeeded in their current efforts. What is left to try?cfarm said:
They tried the "buy the equipment up front" method and didn't get a lot of takers. They have tried the "deep discount w/commitment" method and grew 20,000 in a quarter then STAGNATED as customers left as fast as they came the next quarter. So they tried "near free equipment" and apparently got a lot of signups. Have they turned in to PAYING customers? Not by December 31st - where 4Q revenue was about the same at 3Q. 95 million to 5 million, loss vs revenue.
You can only sit under the umbrella of "It is new, we expect to lose money" for a short period of time - then you have to show that your company will survive in the sun. That ratio should be much higher. If it were 180 million loss to 20 million revenue it would be more promising numbers than Voom is currently reporting. (It would take about 95k customers to generate that revenue.)
At this point Voom has turned in to a longshot bet. I hope someone steps forward and makes the long term investment needed to keep it running. But don't ask me to sit back and say that it is a good bet to make. I wouldn't bet my retirement on the success of Voom.
JL
So in a nutshell justlurker, you're here to play devil's advocate but not offer any better suggestions? What purpose does that serve?
The stagnation probably had several reasons. You're making assumptions. There were install issues(particularly sketchy OTA reception), billing issues, etc. Any one or all could have contributed.
Nobody asked you to get on any bandwagons, just offer a little more substance or facts to support your views. I still come away with nothing more than "you don't like it". That's fine, you're not investing and AFAIK, you're not even a customer. So the endless complaining makes even less sense, IMO.
BTW, calling the other poster a troll is clearly a personal attack. There is no double standard working in the Forum to my knowledge. Please adhere to the same rules as others.
The stagnation probably had several reasons. You're making assumptions. There were install issues(particularly sketchy OTA reception), billing issues, etc. Any one or all could have contributed.
Nobody asked you to get on any bandwagons, just offer a little more substance or facts to support your views. I still come away with nothing more than "you don't like it". That's fine, you're not investing and AFAIK, you're not even a customer. So the endless complaining makes even less sense, IMO.
BTW, calling the other poster a troll is clearly a personal attack. There is no double standard working in the Forum to my knowledge. Please adhere to the same rules as others.
Ok, you're still talking 3 and a half YEARS! Have you NOT seen what this country just went through??? Most investors are NOT interested in spending this amount of money for so long before (maybe) receiving a return. This is the problem. You (and many others) are arguing with people like myself (and others) here but you don't seem to understand we're not saying they're going under. We're looking at the facts we do know and saying, "It's gonna be tough to survive."
And some people here are ready to attack those of us who are being realistic asking whether we're Voom subs and things like this. Ok, just being a Voom sub isn't helping Voom survive. How about taking a 2nd mortgage out on your house and sending a check to Dolan? How about taking the money out of your kids' college fund and sending it to Dolan? None of you are ready to do this so stop acting as if you're better than anyone around here. We're all the same--subs/not subs/or been subs. It's easy to keep your sub going. It's not costing all that much for you. Until you step up and spend some REAL money then you are just the same as us...
The Rickster
GadgetRick said:
If I were a multimillionaire, you bet I would send Dolan a check and patiently wait 3 to 4 years for a return.
remmy said:If this is true. Then if you do the math and use very modest numbers. Voom will need to have 500,000 subs just to cover the cost of operations for a quarter before the turn a profit. This is figuring that the subs only have the $49.99 package. Again using very modest numbers. $75 million seems rather light though when others have talked that it takes 100's of millions to run Voom a year?
Sorry, but that isn't correct. It would take 500,000 subs at $50/month to generate $75 million per quarter in revenue, but Voom doesn't keep all that money. They have to pay CNN, Fox News, ESPN, etc. a price per subscriber and that would mean that much of that money would go to them and increased costs. Voom will need more in the order of 1-2 million subs to make it, I think, but even then you have to figure that they have a lot of costs with running their 21HD channels.
GadgetRick said:
Point #1 - Just because I don't agree with your opinions and post counter points doesn't mean I'm attacking you.
Point #2 - The investor spigots are opening again after a nasty downturn. There was a front page piece in the San Jose Mercury News earlier this week. Venture money is not someone's college money or someone's second mortgage money. Bad analogy.
If you noticed, Dolan Sr. just installed 3 rather wealthy individuals to the Board. All three could be termed visionaries and have experience in the industry. They have the ability to think long term and the willingness to take financial risks today for the rewards of tomorrow. Charles Dolan Sr. is also that kind of person. That's why those people are multi-millionaires or Billionaires, while the working stiffs like you and I sit here debating how the company should be run.
If you step back and look at who's telling who how to run things it looks pretty stupid.
BTW, I'm neither a venture capitalist nor a Cablevision shareholder, so expecting me to send a check to Dolan Sr. is rather silly. I offer my support through continued subscription even in the face of more stable content providers in the market.
I'm not sure I understand the need for folks to complain when they have negative viewpoints about Voom or (fill in topic of your choosing). It's a public Forum where opinions and information are to be shared. If you bring in a viewpoint that is not popular with the majority of the Forum participants, should one really acted surprised when others say they don't agree? If you visit a Forum where Voom is not popular, perhaps your experiences will be different.
I even see people posting to other Forums acting like they are abused stepchildren when they visit here. Can we not be adults? If you come here with views for either "side" expecting a rubber stamp of approval, perhaps your expectations are a bit much. Offer them up if you wish, but don't be surprised to be challenged. If you offer opinions and suggest they are facts, EXPECT them to be challenged. It's the nature of the beast.
I even see people posting to other Forums acting like they are abused stepchildren when they visit here. Can we not be adults? If you come here with views for either "side" expecting a rubber stamp of approval, perhaps your expectations are a bit much. Offer them up if you wish, but don't be surprised to be challenged. If you offer opinions and suggest they are facts, EXPECT them to be challenged. It's the nature of the beast.
I actually wasn't referring to you as attacking me or others.
And, although venture capital has been flowing a little better these days they are being a lot more responsible as to who they're investing in.
And, although venture capital may or may not be someone's savings or college fund the money CVC was putting in was just this in some cases. I'm sure you can find funds with CVC stock in it which people invested in for college/savings/retirement/etc. CVC stopped investing in Voom because they felt a responsibility (correctly so, imo) to do well (as a company) for their stockholders. Not saying you did but many people around here beat them up for this. I cannot say they did the wrong thing based on today's climate.
Also, just because someone is a, "visionary," doesn't mean they're going to succeed in everything they do. It also doesn't make them a good (or bad) person. It doesn't mean people are going to run to them and hand over money. On the contrary, historically, "visionaries," have had a (relatively) tougher time getting money for their ventures than people who would be considered less visionary and more interested in the business aspect of whatever they're trying to do.
Again, they might pull it off but I have my doubts. I still wish they would pull it off and fix all of the issues they have had (which made me cancel after over a year). If they can I'd GLADLY resubscribe. Honestly, if I hadn't experienced all of the problems I did towards the end I'd still be a sub but I'd still be saying the same things I'm saying here.
The Rickster
I am here to discuss the issues. You don't seem to have all the answers and yet you post.cfarm said:
Then you are unteachable.cfarm said:
Note that poster served no purpose but to call ME a troll. Just returning the "complement".cfarm said:
If certain folks would spend more time discussing Voom than those who don't drink the Kool-Aid this would be a better forum.
JL
I think the Forum would get further if people stopped the tit-for-tat. I don't see how responding in kind shows maturity or furthers the education of the Forum.
Because I see no sound logic behind your opinions, I'm unteachable? No, I'm quite logical, to a fault sometimes. You haven't shown me anything other than some shoot-from-the-hip financial analysis. I've pointed out specifically why I think it's flawed. I'll provide you opinions and commentary with sound thinking behind and I'm not afraid to admit when my analysis or research was wrong. But I can assure you that won't happen with those weak responses you posted on the topic.
Because I see no sound logic behind your opinions, I'm unteachable? No, I'm quite logical, to a fault sometimes. You haven't shown me anything other than some shoot-from-the-hip financial analysis. I've pointed out specifically why I think it's flawed. I'll provide you opinions and commentary with sound thinking behind and I'm not afraid to admit when my analysis or research was wrong. But I can assure you that won't happen with those weak responses you posted on the topic.
