Does Voom Resuscitation Cinch FCC Approval for Dish?

rocatman

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Original poster
Nov 28, 2003
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With the news that Voom apparently will stay in business assure that Dish will gain FCC approval of their acquisition of Voom's DBS frequencies at 61.5 W? Certainly the issue of competition is at least severely weaken if not eliminated as an argument against Dish's acquisition. Another question is whether the two Charlies, Ergen and Dolan have cut a deal for Voom's HD programming. Is the delay in the Tech Chat a sign of something in the works? Let the rumors begin.
 
rocatman said:
With the news that Voom apparently will stay in business assure that Dish will gain FCC approval of their acquisition of Voom's DBS frequencies at 61.5 W? Certainly the issue of competition is at least severely weaken if not eliminated as an argument against Dish's acquisition. Another question is whether the two Charlies, Ergen and Dolan have cut a deal for Voom's HD programming. Is the delay in the Tech Chat a sign of something in the works? Let the rumors begin.

The reason the Tech Chat was delayed is quite obvious. The answer to all questions is probably 'no.'
 
I would be willing to bet that now Voom is here to stay it makes E* chances worse of gaining the satellite. The FCC likes competition, they don't want to eliminate it, and competition is strengthened not weakened by this news.
 
So Dish can pick up the rest of VOOM's assets even cheaper when they finally fold next year. :rolleyes:

I happy for the 100 or so VOOMers cheering wildly over in their forums (my goodness, it's starting to resemble a cult over there!), but this sale to the Dolans doesn't erase the fact that VOOM only has 20,000 or so subs, churn is high, and VOOM operations is leaking money like a sieve.
 
rocatman said:
With the news that Voom apparently will stay in business assure that Dish will gain FCC approval of their acquisition of Voom's DBS frequencies at 61.5 W? Certainly the issue of competition is at least severely weaken if not eliminated as an argument against Dish's acquisition. Another question is whether the two Charlies, Ergen and Dolan have cut a deal for Voom's HD programming. Is the delay in the Tech Chat a sign of something in the works? Let the rumors begin.

The FCC may be able to block the transfer of the transponder licenses (I don't think this is likely) but they can't prevent the sale of the satellite. If that happens E* will just use Rainbow 1 as a replacement for E* III.

The Dolans are nuts. I find it hard to believe that they can find anyone else stupid enough and with deep enough pockets to dump money into that pit. As for Dolan Sr. and Ergen in some kind of deal? Very unlikely. The majority of the programming on V* is the same repetitive fare that Charlie branded un-compelling.


NightRyder
 
yanks2402 said:
I would be willing to bet that now Voom is here to stay it makes E* chances worse of gaining the satellite. The FCC likes competition, they don't want to eliminate it, and competition is strengthened not weakened by this news.

Yanks,

What???? Voom has agreements IN PLACE to transition their service to an FSS satellite with more capacity at a Better Full Conus slot. The FCC should be overjoyed with the way this is playing out.

The buyout of the Voom Programing and subscribers to a previous Board Member with a good business plan with none of the cost overhead that Cablevision has with Rainbow1, its station keeping and the Uplink center is a brilliant move on (New CEO)Dolans part.

The latest moves solidify the Cablevision asset sale of Rainbow1 not weaken it (see below), the uplink center and the transponder liceneses.

I as well as others pointed this likely outcome months ago. If you have a mind to business and business planing and not pie in the sky speculation then you could have seen this outcome as well.

Bottomline VOOM needs to get out from under the crushing debt Cablevision created with its related startup costs to have any chance of surviving. Killing the deal with Cablevision and Dish for the in orbit assets, uplink center, and transponder licenses, upsets the current Cablevision and VOOM shareholders, and does NOT cause any harm to the new incarnation of the Voom service with Dolan. On the contary, this actually helps the new VOOM by allowing the service to be broadcast from a much better Conus slot with MORE bandwidth for a more complete service with the likelyhood of being a better competing HD and especially SD provider that would put more pressure on DirecTV and Dish not LESS. I personally think the limited amount of SD programing was the problem with VOOM in the first place. Most Subs want a ONE STOP provider, meaning they want their SD and HD from one SOURCE, IMHO this was the biggest reason for slow sales of Voom.

This sale and the New VOOM would likely bring the entire Country another more complete competitor for SD/HD and and not just the HD carrier that VOOM is now.

In the end this is great news for all Satellite subscribers, not bad news for Voom Subscribers. I will now take back my previous statements that "VOOM is doomed". The new Voom will be a better service with a more complete service for SD especially. This will challenge Dish and DirecTV to ramp up HD or risk losing lots of Subs over the next few years. All this and the New Voom will not be saddled with the crippling debt they now have.

This is by no means cures all of Vooms inherent problems, but with HD sales and ownership ramping up it gives a VOOM a REAL Chance, something they didn't have without the latest deals between Dish and Cablevision and with sale of the service and its' subs to Dolan.

John
 

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