Cablevision Enters into Interim Agreement Regarding VOOM

[AxE]

Here is what it boils down to.......

E* has 11 million customers paying an average of $55/month for the service.
VOOM has 46,000 customers paying between $50-$90/month.

E* is going to be able to buy Rainbow because Charlie has enough money and influence to do so. Now this poses a question......

Do you really think that if E* buys Rainbow that it is in thier best interests to keep VOOM alive?

I would like to be a fly on the wall for those negotiations.

Personally I am not for V* or E* necessarily, but the fact that I am in the business I can just see what is coming.



_________________________________________________________________

IN WAR THE OBJECT IS NOT TO DIE FOR YOUR COUNTRY, BUT TO MAKE THE OTHER POOR BASTARD DIE FOR HIS!

 

[Jamey K]

Here is what it boils down to.......
Do you really think that if E* buys Rainbow that it is in thier best interests to keep VOOM alive?


Yes.

 

[compson]

I know some people are unhappy unless they have something to complain about, but this is definitely good news. The Board, which a week ago sent a threatening letter to Dolan, has made a sharp turn and will now work with him "cooperatively to finalize the separation from Cablevision of its Rainbow DBS operation." Dolan wouldn't have gone to all this trouble, including accepting personal liability for costs, if he didn't think a deal would happen. It will take time, but working together, they will finalize the transition of VOOM. This is cause for great optimism.

 

[AxE]

Why Jamey?

They are competition.

 

[Spike]

Added another to my ignore list!

 

[jeslevine]

I love voom and am a subscriber, but nothing has changed, if no Charles Dolan can't arrange a deal at the end of the month it is over

 

[James Long]

BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wrong satellite service.

Voom still doesn't have a satellite to broadcast from after the sale of the satellite and uplink facility are complete.

What is wrong with AMC-6/Rainbow 2? It has three times the space as Rainbow1 and Voom has leases in place to use it. It would help them expand, to more easily reach the west coast (72º vs 61.5º w), and to cut costs. Voom doesn't end with the Rainbow1 transfer.

JL

 

[mike123abc]

Echostar really needs R-1. They need a high powered spot beam satellite. VOOM does not need R-1, R-2 will work fine for them. But, I think Echostar will be more than willing to lease R-1 to VOOM probably at a VERY cheap rate during the transition to R-2. Echostar does not need the wrath of the FCC to come down on it. Technically if the FCC blocks the 11 TP license transfer E* could still move the satellite to somewhere else like 129. Echostar needs the satellite and will probably cooperate fully to get the licenses too.

 

[jeslevine]

why should ergan lease R-1 to Voom at a cheap rate?

 

[SactoCal]

I don't care what the poo-butts says. This isn't bad news. This is good news. I am just concerned for Chuck spending his own money. Betcha thats where the

pursuant to which the parties will work cooperatively

came from. Once James saw dad was spending even more of the old inheritance that is.

Err.. When did this become an orbital sat. topic? jk

 

[James Long]

why should ergan lease R-1 to Voom at a cheap rate?

Most likely he won't have to. It will take until the end of April and by then Voom can be on R-2 (or at least off R-1).

Besides, as long a Voom is leaving R-1 Dolan can borrow from his friendship with Ergen.

JL

 

[klen]

Cablevision's stock was up almost 4% after hours today. Apparently, investors are happy with this outcome for the time being.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ecn?s=CVC


-k

 

[Jamey K]

Why Jamey?

They are competition.

They...we ....are higher end user. I won't speak for everyone, or want to give the Dolans any ideas, but I would pay more for this service. The E* or D* users I suspect are looking for something cheap with a lot of channels. I want HD and a lot of it. I spent a lot for my TV and I don't want Horse Racing or Bingo on it.

Sony Records have several labels...Columbia, Epic... they represent different end of the user. Dylan & Springsteen aren't selling big units for Columbia anymore and it would probably be cheaper to cut them both loose. But, Sony does not want to see Springsteen on Warner Brothers and they'll pay to keep him.

If E* can turn any profit from owning V*, it makes more sense to keep high end users in the family and not let them run off to D* or cable. When contracts with networks come up, E* will have a great position to negociate with.

And the FCC will have to sign off on it and personal experience reminds me they move at a slow pace.

V* is here and we'll find out how in the future, but for me...I don't care if Purina owns half of it. It's a service I want...and I'll pay to get it.

 

[mike123abc]

why should ergan lease R-1 to Voom at a cheap rate?

Because he does not want to be seen as the person that caused VOOM to go off the air and cause the collapse of a third DBS company. The FCC wants to see more competition, and Echostar has to do a lot of business with the FCC. With the lease he can show that he helped with the transition and that VOOM does not want/need the licenses and they can be transfered to Echostar.

 

[joemama]

Most people will believe anything, either because they want it to be true, or they are afraid it's true. Read what the statment says, not what you want it to say.

"The agreement allows Rainbow DBS to remain in operation and to continue to provide its VOOM service to subscribers while Charles and Thomas Dolan seek to arrange an alternate transaction that would avoid a shutdown of Rainbow DBS."

CVC is just giving them more time to find a deal.

 

[James Long]

cause the collapse of a third DBS company.

I think this has officially reached the level of pet peeve.
#1 DirecTV
#2 Dish Network
#3 Sky Angel
#4 Voom

JL

 

[madpoet]

I kind of think it's funny that loyal Voomers like myself and Vurbano, when we express some concern over the new deadline, are now treated like pariahs because apparently we didn't drink enough of the Voom Kool-Aid. Nothing has changed here. Nothing. While I am happy that my Voom receiver is still on, I am not so happy that we continue in a state of flux for a longer period. It's not a good thing.

And for those that say "oh, just switch to the other bird" keep in mind that it's going to be a serious cash outlay for Voom to do this. They will need a bigger dish, and it's going to mean all 45k subs will need a visit from the installer. That's a lot of work and cash.

 

[Sean Mota]

I kind of think it's funny that loyal Voomers like myself and Vurbano, when we express some concern over the new deadline, are now treated like pariahs because apparently we didn't drink enough of the Voom Kool-Aid. Nothing has changed here. Nothing. While I am happy that my Voom receiver is still on, I am not so happy that we continue in a state of flux for a longer period. It's not a good thing.

And for those that say "oh, just switch to the other bird" keep in mind that it's going to be a serious cash outlay for Voom to do this. They will need a bigger dish, and it's going to mean all 45k subs will need a visit from the installer. That's a lot of work and cash.

madpoet,

I do not think that's it. I just think that you guys are jumping the gun too quickly. There is more that you and I do not know. They released what they could at this point. The 3/31/05, as you put it, deadline had to be done because there was no definite agreement after 3/7/05. What's different? on this one... CVC is not paying for continous operation. Charles Dolan is. There's an understanding which can lead to more fruitful negotiations. It is not easy to satisfy all parties involved by just taking away VOOM from CVC. There's a lot that we do not know and this is why it is taking time. Not saying that it will all collapse on 3/31/05 but stating that this is a better option than a shutdown.

 

[TheForce]

JL- While I appreciate your posts on many topics I fail to understand why you list Sky Angel all the time like it was an equal to DirecTV, DishNetwork, and VOOM? If one looks at the makeup of three of them they are quite similar in that they are offering a range of programming that encompasses all genres with some specialty areas as their banner channels such as D* with NFL ST, Voom with the largest collection of HDTV channels etc. SkyAngel is primarily a genre network of 19 channels, all consisting of Christian messages. It may be the largest Christian network with 19 channels but it does not offer the 100+ channels of variety that the other 3 do. Does SkyAngel even have HDTV? I think this is the reason why people only consider we have 3 DBS service providers.
Do you know how many subscribers Sky Angel has today? I don't. I'd be curious to know. I doubt even the FCC considers Sky Angel one of the major players. They are just a genre network that airs via satellite.

 

[rocatman]

why should ergan lease R-1 to Voom at a cheap rate?

The reason Dish/ Charlie Ergen would lease the R-1 satellite to the new Voom/Chuck Dolan is to remove the competition argument from the FCC for the transfer of the frequency licenses at 61.5 W by keeping Voom alive. The FCC has used the competition argument a few times over the past couple of years to deny these types of applications especially to Dish. Ergen could insist that the lease agreement include a provision that Dolan provide a statement to the FCC that his plans for Voom do not include or need to include the R-1 satellite for Voom to survive/compete. I could envision the lease agreement extending through June 1 at the latest to give Voom plenty of time to switch to the R-2/AMC-6 satellite. One would think that with the previously announced large expansion of channels by Voom in March, that at least some of the larger dishes and associated hardware has been ordered. Actually if Ergen really wanted to help his buddy Chuck Dolan out, he could sell him Dish Superdishes at wholesale. Dish has a new Superdish that is mesh so that the wind loads are much less. If Ergen wanted to really, really help out Dolan, with SES Americom approval he could sub-lease part or all of the Ku band transponders of AMC-16 at 85 W. AMC-16 was launched in late 2004 and has 140 watt Ku band transponders compared to 110 watt Ku band transponders for R-2/AMC-6. The 85 W location would also give even a better look angle for folks out on the west coast than AMC-6 at 72 W. I threw out the 85 W scenario because this location appears to be somewhat of an oddball for Dish.