HDTV Comes to Satellite-SatMag Cover Story Mentions VOOM

bookwalk

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Feb 10, 2005
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Just received this April issue (today's email notice) of SatMagazine's Cover Story on HDTV. Here are a few excerpts from the story on p 20 - 27: ( http://www.satmagazine.com/ )

"...HDTV is coming. It’s hard to pin-point the transition line to mass adoption, but it looks like this is the year. Why 2005? The timing is right for a combination of technology, marketing, and
growing customer demand. The technical bottlenecks are being addressed through advanced
satellite transmission techniques and new compression capabilities of MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding). The DVB standards group claims DVB-S2 bandwidth efficiency “is so powerful that in the course of our lifetime, we will never need
to design another system”.

There is no better example of HDTV growing pains than Cablevision subsidiary Rainbow DBS’ all HD satellite service. This ambitious effort to compete with DirectTV and Dish Network has struggled to gain subscriber base (reportedly less than 30,000). During the last month there has been an amazing
sequence of roller-coaster reports mapping the ups and downs of CableVision’s billion dollar investment in HDTV infrastructure. The latest headlines
reflect CableVision’s decision to shut down the system and recoup their losses—as well as founder Charles Nolan’s commitment to keep the service
running on his own funds. The company’s name has been the butt of an endless series of headline puns:

...Chairman Nolan has been trying to revisit with sale of Voom assets to Echostar—a sale made by
his son, CEO James Nolan, who has been doubtful of Voom potential. However, Voom media is a bellwether of the growing potential of the new market. So, despite the growing pains, with a little luck, the company will revoom, er, resume its
growth trajectory and signal the opening of a new era in mass satellite broadcast business...."

p 21 excerpts:

"In contrast, cable needs space only for the few local channels relevant to each market. Satellite’s
carriage costs will increase, and cable will continue to win over a disproportionate share of HDTV homes. Satellite will be forced to choose: Invest
hundreds of millions of dollars in new satellites, develop and upgrade millions of set-top boxes to MPEG4, or give up on HDTV and settle for lower-paying, less profitable subscribers” [from “HDTV and the Coming Bandwidth Crunch” by Josh
Bernoff, February 17, 2005)....

That last paragraph before page 21 gives hope--maybe a Phoenix rising from the ashes--good name for a new venture--Phoenix.

Why is VOOM telling us to go with another provider--maybe because they know it will be at least a year before a new Phoenix rises from the ashes?

If I got with any other provider, given the new MP4 technology coming out and this article in SatMag, I would NEVER invest in any current HD receivers from ANYONE, unless it were some ridiculously low figure.

This article does emphasize the quicker jump-in for cable vs satellite, so those of us with no cable options, will just have to wait it out. It was like the Cardinals last year (our favorite MLB team)--they played hard to the very end, but they just didn't win the World Series, but, hey they are back again playing, aren't they?

NEVER< NEVER GIVE UP!

Charlie DOLAN, please NEVER< NEVER give up!
 
bookwalk said:
Just received this April issue (today's email notice) of SatMagazine's Cover Story on HDTV. Here are a few excerpts from the story on p 20 - 27: ( http://www.satmagazine.com/ )

"...HDTV is coming. It’s
hard to pin-point the
transition line to mass
adoption, but it looks like this is
the year.

havent they been saying that since like 99? every year is "supposed" to be the year hd takes off
 
bookwalk said:
..It was like the Cardinals last year (our favorite MLB team)--they played hard to the very end, but they just didn't win the World Series, but, hey they are back again playing, aren't they?
...
Except the Cardinals have more fans at a home game than VOOM ever had.
 
did anyonelse notice in this article it keeps referring to the dolans as the nolans. lol
 
hbk409 said:
did anyonelse notice in this article it keeps referring to the dolans as the nolans. lol

ALso talks about 30k subs instead of the reality: 46k-50k... pretty misinformed, lame article.
 
T2k said:
ALso talks about 30k subs instead of the reality: 46k-50k... pretty misinformed, lame article.

Well, the last reported numbers filed with the SEC were 40,000 at the end of Feb., but they are still off by 10,000, I am amazed in today's world these reporters just can't get on the net and get the correct info, if I can find it, anyone could.
 
T2k said:
Last reported was 46k by end of Feb, in a SEC filing: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050228/nym238_1.html

That 46,000 is from a quote in that link you posted, not the filing:

Said Tom Dolan, VOOM HD's CEO, "We are more than ever convinced of the viability of the VOOM service. We believe our offer to Cablevision is in the best interests of Cablevision's shareholders and VOOM's 46,000 subscribers across the nation. If we are able to complete negotiations with Cablevision, we are certain that VOOM HD will emerge as a robust new vendor providing a valuable alternative to the two services that now dominate the satellite industry."

From the actual filing, not a news story:

Rainbow DBS

The Rainbow DBS business began operations in October 2003 with the introduction of the VOOMSM service, which carries a larger number of high-definition channels than any other satellite provider or cable television system. As of December 31, 2004, the VOOMSM service offering included over 30 channels in high-definition, including 21 currently exclusive VOOMSM channels and over 70 standard definition channels. The VOOMSM service is currently transmitted by the Rainbow DBS satellite, Rainbow 1, that was constructed by Lockheed Martin, successfully launched in July 2003 and delivered to its 61.5°W.L. orbital position. From this orbital position, the satellite can provide coverage to the contiguous United States, provided customers have a line of sight to the satellite. As of February 28, 2005, Rainbow DBS had approximately 40,000 subscribers.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/784681/000104746905006818/a2153426z10-k.htm
 
Gee guys, lighten up. Don't you think there's some lead time in publishing a magazine? It's not like Time or Newsweek. This story was probably written in February (the only date in the article is Feb. 17), before the last quarterly results from CVC were posted.
 
But was relatively updated because it mentioned that "The latest headlines reflect CableVision’s decision to shut down the system and recoup their losses—as well as founder Charles Nolan’s commitment to keep the service
running on his own funds. The company’s name has been the butt of an endless series of headline puns". Like I have said before, we might have to take one step back, before we talk 2 steps fordward.....