After reading this article, please take the time to e-mail Mr. Swann and advise him of your personal feelings on this issue; I have.
==========
News Analysis: Is Voom Still Doomed?
Yes, but the sale of the satellite TV service finally gets Cablevision off the hook.
By Phillip Swann
Washington, D.C. (Feb. 14) -- Chuck Dolan just can't give up the dream.
Dolan, the 78-year-old Cablevision chairman, announced last week that he was heading a group that will purchase the remaining assets of Voom, the struggling satellite TV service he cajoled his company to launch in October 2003. Earlier this month, many analysts concluded that Voom would soon be terminated after Cablevision announced it was selling a Voom satellite (and orbital location) to EchoStar, a satellite rival.
Despite spending more than $1 billion on Voom, the service has signed up only 26,000 subscribers after more than a year.
But Dolan, who fiercely opposed the EchoStar sale, still believes that Voom can survive as a High-Definition TV service (Voom has nearly 40 high-def channels). His group plans to seek funding to keep Voom alive. Tom Dolan, Chuck's son and a member of the new Voom team, says that funding will be secured before the sale transaction date of February 28. (It's also been speculated that Chuck Dolan, a billionaire, will use his own money to fund Voom indefinitely.)
After news of the Dolan sale was announced, Internet message boards were jammed with enthusiastic comments from Voom subscribers. They said that Voom would flourish because Dolan would no longer have to battle skeptical Cablevision officials, including his other son, Cablevision CEO James Dolan. The elderly Dolan, they said, could now run the company the way it's supposed to be run.
But the Voom owners are thinking with their hearts rather than their heads.
Despite the impressive HDTV lineup, Voom's service simply can not compete with satellite mainstays, EchoStar and DIRECTV. The two satcasters now have more than 25 million subscribers and a mountain of cash to spend on everything from marketing to satellite production.
DIRECTV, for instance, is launching four new satellites over the next two years so it can provide up to 150 national HDTV channels by 2007;and it will start offering local high-def channels in 12 markets sometime this summer. Why would anyone subscribe to an upstart satellite service when DIRECTV will soon provide an even better HDTV lineup to go along with its established satellite service?
In addition, despite Dolan's personal fortune, Voom will face even more difficulty because it won't have Cablevision's marketing team and infrastructure behind it. Dolan will soon learn that running a satellite TV service in today's economy is not as easy as it looks. (Unless, of course, he can persuade an existing media company to come in as a partner; it's not likely, but Dolan should be shopping around.)
No, Voom is still doomed. Dolan has just given it a reprieve.
He has also given Cablevision an opportunity to recoup some of its losses. The cable operator now doesn't have to spend more money on shutting down the service -- and it can get some money back from Dolan in the sale.
Who says Chuck Dolan doesn't have Cablevision's best interests at heart?
Phillip Swann, president of TVPredictions.com, has been quoted on TV technology in dozens of publications and by broadcast outlets, such as The Chicago Tribune, The Hollywood Reporter, Fox News and CNN. If you would like to contact Mr. Swann, he can be reached at 703-505-3064 or at
swann@tvpredictions.com
The TV Predictions Newsletter now has more than 8,000 e-mail subscribers, including some of the nation's highest-ranking TV executives. Sign up today and get our daily news links and 'Swanni Sez,' the weekly commentary from Phillip Swann! It's...FREE!
© TVPredictions.com
==========
Mr. Swann,
I wish to point out your observations are simply that, observations.
You negate the fact, Mr. Swann, Mr. Charles Dolan was the same individual brought us HBO, later sold to Time-Warner. And, that the same nay sayer's such as your self, including Wall Street, predicted absolute failure on its inception as well. The exact same forecast was also stressed when Mr. Ted Turner enlightened us with the inception of CNN, also acquired by Time-Warner. Neither ventures brought profitability within, what analysts deemed, a reasonable period.
I was there at their birth's; were you?
How long have you been undermining potential success stories with your so-called crystal ball spewing worthless undermining fodder?
You have discredited yourself with your so called "absolute" analysis.
Never say never, Mr. Swann. For if you are mistaken you'll pay by subverting your very own credibility; being the self proclaimed demagogue who cried wolf.
Mr. Swann, my observations are simply that, observations. Yet, they do not pose the potential for undermining the viability and financial success for many, juxtaposed to the one, you.
==========
Bradley, my friend, my record of forecasting the future has been better of late than Mr. Dolan.
Swanni Sez.
==========
Mr. Swann,
I wish to say I have enjoyed past observations you have presented, although I have not always agreed nor disagreed with your analysis.
Yet, with your forecast of Voom’s demise you do bring the following to the forefront…
You most willingly pose a conflict of interest as you are sponsored by HDNet and sing praises for them simultaneously.
You conjecture yourself with the seemingly independent stature you wish to present of yourself; yet is it not an oxymoron to behave in such a manner as to act a lobbyist for the right price, simply a mouthpiece for hire?
Those in the know do recognize this, Mr. Swann.
It is the rest of the ill informed public who are seemingly naive to your discourse.
Mr. Swann, as one who takes compensation for Mark Cuban's HDNet, you very much undermine your own credibility within the industry; stifling a direct competitor,undermining its potential success, forecasting “doom for Voom,” although however seemingly insignificant in comparable size in its present stature, while discrediting its creator, are you not possibly libelous?
Oh, Swanni! Do tread carefully, my friend. The FCC and those who like to place you in the eye of the public may not take kindly to your apparent conflicts of interest.
==========
News Analysis: Is Voom Still Doomed?
Yes, but the sale of the satellite TV service finally gets Cablevision off the hook.
By Phillip Swann
Washington, D.C. (Feb. 14) -- Chuck Dolan just can't give up the dream.
Dolan, the 78-year-old Cablevision chairman, announced last week that he was heading a group that will purchase the remaining assets of Voom, the struggling satellite TV service he cajoled his company to launch in October 2003. Earlier this month, many analysts concluded that Voom would soon be terminated after Cablevision announced it was selling a Voom satellite (and orbital location) to EchoStar, a satellite rival.
Despite spending more than $1 billion on Voom, the service has signed up only 26,000 subscribers after more than a year.
But Dolan, who fiercely opposed the EchoStar sale, still believes that Voom can survive as a High-Definition TV service (Voom has nearly 40 high-def channels). His group plans to seek funding to keep Voom alive. Tom Dolan, Chuck's son and a member of the new Voom team, says that funding will be secured before the sale transaction date of February 28. (It's also been speculated that Chuck Dolan, a billionaire, will use his own money to fund Voom indefinitely.)
After news of the Dolan sale was announced, Internet message boards were jammed with enthusiastic comments from Voom subscribers. They said that Voom would flourish because Dolan would no longer have to battle skeptical Cablevision officials, including his other son, Cablevision CEO James Dolan. The elderly Dolan, they said, could now run the company the way it's supposed to be run.
But the Voom owners are thinking with their hearts rather than their heads.
Despite the impressive HDTV lineup, Voom's service simply can not compete with satellite mainstays, EchoStar and DIRECTV. The two satcasters now have more than 25 million subscribers and a mountain of cash to spend on everything from marketing to satellite production.
DIRECTV, for instance, is launching four new satellites over the next two years so it can provide up to 150 national HDTV channels by 2007;and it will start offering local high-def channels in 12 markets sometime this summer. Why would anyone subscribe to an upstart satellite service when DIRECTV will soon provide an even better HDTV lineup to go along with its established satellite service?
In addition, despite Dolan's personal fortune, Voom will face even more difficulty because it won't have Cablevision's marketing team and infrastructure behind it. Dolan will soon learn that running a satellite TV service in today's economy is not as easy as it looks. (Unless, of course, he can persuade an existing media company to come in as a partner; it's not likely, but Dolan should be shopping around.)
No, Voom is still doomed. Dolan has just given it a reprieve.
He has also given Cablevision an opportunity to recoup some of its losses. The cable operator now doesn't have to spend more money on shutting down the service -- and it can get some money back from Dolan in the sale.
Who says Chuck Dolan doesn't have Cablevision's best interests at heart?
Phillip Swann, president of TVPredictions.com, has been quoted on TV technology in dozens of publications and by broadcast outlets, such as The Chicago Tribune, The Hollywood Reporter, Fox News and CNN. If you would like to contact Mr. Swann, he can be reached at 703-505-3064 or at
swann@tvpredictions.com
The TV Predictions Newsletter now has more than 8,000 e-mail subscribers, including some of the nation's highest-ranking TV executives. Sign up today and get our daily news links and 'Swanni Sez,' the weekly commentary from Phillip Swann! It's...FREE!
© TVPredictions.com
==========
Mr. Swann,
I wish to point out your observations are simply that, observations.
You negate the fact, Mr. Swann, Mr. Charles Dolan was the same individual brought us HBO, later sold to Time-Warner. And, that the same nay sayer's such as your self, including Wall Street, predicted absolute failure on its inception as well. The exact same forecast was also stressed when Mr. Ted Turner enlightened us with the inception of CNN, also acquired by Time-Warner. Neither ventures brought profitability within, what analysts deemed, a reasonable period.
I was there at their birth's; were you?
How long have you been undermining potential success stories with your so-called crystal ball spewing worthless undermining fodder?
You have discredited yourself with your so called "absolute" analysis.
Never say never, Mr. Swann. For if you are mistaken you'll pay by subverting your very own credibility; being the self proclaimed demagogue who cried wolf.
Mr. Swann, my observations are simply that, observations. Yet, they do not pose the potential for undermining the viability and financial success for many, juxtaposed to the one, you.
==========
Bradley, my friend, my record of forecasting the future has been better of late than Mr. Dolan.
Swanni Sez.
==========
Mr. Swann,
I wish to say I have enjoyed past observations you have presented, although I have not always agreed nor disagreed with your analysis.
Yet, with your forecast of Voom’s demise you do bring the following to the forefront…
You most willingly pose a conflict of interest as you are sponsored by HDNet and sing praises for them simultaneously.
You conjecture yourself with the seemingly independent stature you wish to present of yourself; yet is it not an oxymoron to behave in such a manner as to act a lobbyist for the right price, simply a mouthpiece for hire?
Those in the know do recognize this, Mr. Swann.
It is the rest of the ill informed public who are seemingly naive to your discourse.
Mr. Swann, as one who takes compensation for Mark Cuban's HDNet, you very much undermine your own credibility within the industry; stifling a direct competitor,undermining its potential success, forecasting “doom for Voom,” although however seemingly insignificant in comparable size in its present stature, while discrediting its creator, are you not possibly libelous?
Oh, Swanni! Do tread carefully, my friend. The FCC and those who like to place you in the eye of the public may not take kindly to your apparent conflicts of interest.
bow 
I'll try not to copy your post word for word, once I cool off again...but it would be hard to state it any better! :clap :clap :clap Regarding all the other posts in between...I don't think I saw one I would disagree with. 
