International Channels

voombot

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Aug 24, 2004
85
0
Does voom plan on adding any international channels when they do the big upgrade in march?
 
I hope they don't waste bandwidth that can be use for more HD channels. For international channels, E* is the way to go. Let it be that way.
 
Walter L. said:
I hope they don't waste bandwidth that can be use for more HD channels. For international channels, E* is the way to go. Let it be that way.

Agreed. I don't think they should focus on international programming, that is E*'s niche.

That said, I think Voom does need to include Spanish language programming in their business plan. They should probably include a couple channels with this next round of improvements, but more within the next year or so if they want to compete with E* and D* (and cable) in the long run. The Latino/Hispanic community is the fastest growing segment of the US Population and it would be a mistake to ignore this market for too long. This is why both E* and D* have more than one package to appeal to this market segment.

I also think that Voom could appeal to the black community as well, and many of these channel would also appeal to a much larger audience. There are some excellent options available that are not carried by E* or D* (TV One for example), as well as some that are carried by both, but not Voom (Black Starz).
 
That said, I think Voom does need to include Spanish language programming in their business plan . . .
I also think that Voom could appeal to the black community as well, and many of these channel would also appeal to a much larger audience. . . .

So is it just the Asian Community that you want to exclude from your masterplan? Or the old soviet block countries? Phillipinos, Pakistani, or Indian?

Do you also think they should roll out an all white channel, just for a balanced contrast? More religious channels, more drug channels, more shopping channels, they all have their revenue incentives.

Me? I won't be opposed to any additional channels, as long as I can easily black them out so that I don't have to surf through them every time. More channels won't make me more likely to become or remain a customer. Unless they are channels that I want to watch. And I'd rather have 30 of the best channels than 3000 of the rest. So the big numbers never did get me wet.
 
Additionally,

there seems to be more than one person here that subscribes to to more than one service. I think that is the ticket. If D* focuses on sports and E* on International, and V* on HD, then I could get my mix of HD and Sports, or HD and Itnernational, for a "reasonable" rate of specialty packages from two services. Otherwise, It is all just duplication.

I think it is great to consider VOOM as a premium service whether it is delivered by a separate dish, or as a special package on someone elses dish. I'd be a buyer either way.

In fact, at some point, when voom keeps ramping up their HD content, they might be able to package out the core SD channels, so that I, as a multiservice subscriber, don't have to pay for that duplication.

It has been said here somewhere that the cost of voom and a base service from another sat service is close to comparable to a premium package of services alone.

Viva la Choice!!!!
 
67Yv8t said:
So is it just the Asian Community that you want to exclude from your masterplan? Or the old soviet block countries? Phillipinos, Pakistani, or Indian?

Do you also think they should roll out an all white channel, just for a balanced contrast? More religious channels, more drug channels, more shopping channels, they all have their revenue incentives.

Me? I won't be opposed to any additional channels, as long as I can easily black them out so that I don't have to surf through them every time. More channels won't make me more likely to become or remain a customer. Unless they are channels that I want to watch. And I'd rather have 30 of the best channels than 3000 of the rest. So the big numbers never did get me wet.

No, you missed the point. Voom can't compete for the smaller niche markets at this time. But they do need to compete for the larger and rapidly growing markets. Put simply, Voom needs to increase it's customer base. There were many people Voom didn't appeal to because of it's lack of "lifestyle" and childrens channels. It would be a mistake to ignore these large markets for very long. I'm not talking large numbers of channels, but by adding a few targeted channels Voom might appeal to a significantly larger audience.
 
67Yv8t said:
It has been said here somewhere that the cost of voom and a base service from another sat service is close to comparable to a premium package of services alone.

Viva la Choice!!!!

Now this is a valid point, but so far Voom hasn't rolled out an HD only package, or an HD and premium channels package (so you could get the basic HD channels and Voom exclusives, plus the premium movie HD channels too.)

So far it seems like Voom doesn't want to go there. But it might have made a better initial offering than what they did do.

I also think this could still be an option for Voom to consider.
 
To expect Voom to try and compete on breadth of offerings would be a mistake.

I've been to restaurants that have a 47 page menu, and serve everything from barbeque to vegetarian, and I don't normally go back. It certainly wouldn't be my choice for only place to eat.

The most successful businesses don't expect to get all the business, they specialize in doing the best is one area. Even those that venture away from their core, normally find they are moving away from success. McDonalds has try a lot "vertical Market" products, and other than fresh baked cookies has met with little success.

To try and tear away a significant segment of E* clients, by claiming a (Me Too) "we have 'some' of your cultural channels" is not going to get anyone excited about jumping ship.

I think V* has done a good job of determining the strengths of it's competitors, and not going head to head, but taking an unserviced market (HD) and said "we are the best and will continue to be better than everyone else from now on".

They need to capitalize on that.

They also realize that many people want more than just a few HD channels, so they included a core of the most popular SD channels. This makes them very competitive with local cable for many parts of the company. they offer about as much as my basic cable and add HD for a reasonable added cost. My cost for High end cable (more, not necessarily better channels) is about what I be payng for Voom (when it is installed).

It's not the cultural channels that made me switch, not the Sports Package that made me switch, Not the number of channels that made me switch. It was HD, with enough standard channels to be a "complete enough" package for my needs. If I NEEDED sports and HD, then I guess I'm a buyer of two services, and I would only want to pay as little as possible for duplication of channels between the services.

One other benefit for me with Voom, which also seems to be one of the big cost problems for Voom, is that I get all my locals in Uncompressed HD, since they are all offered OTA.

Not available with D* or E*. And admittedly not a benefit for a large part of the country.

My Brother in Law and I had a discussion about subscribing only to the channels that we actually want. truly I spend more than 80% of my time watching less than 20% of the channels offered.

How about a deal where I can create my own package on E* that would be for maybe 15 of the best channels to add to whatever service, Cable, Voom, or just OTA for $20 a month.

And Have Voom ultimately offer the same thing, 15-20 channels of real HD to add to my Dish Sports Subscription.

All of these are great ways to increase marketshare by making a smaller cost for the sub so it becomes an easy impulse purchase.

But that has to be after Voom increases their base.

Do your part. Talk to your neighbors, encourage them to try Voom.

It's a BUCK. Whether they do voom or VAVA Voom, it is reasonably comparable in cost to what they are paying and they will have a new mix of content. How many of us get board with the HBO Subscription after 2 months, because it's the same movies each month?

They can always go back to the same-ol' in six months and that will seem new and interesting.

If you argue that Churn will not be a solution, I can tell you the Technically elite are a nervous group that is contantly wanting to change. The Masses, they is a stable crowd, most are always happy with the status quo. Most will stay right where they are unless there is a real hot fire stuck under their but.

Voom needs their service to move away from the elite class. And you can help. Most of you technically elite have neighbors that are not. Become shepards, move the flock to the promised land of HD.

this is an opportunity to see just how much influence a small group (26,000)of dedicated zealots has on the future of this country.

Whaddya think, wanna givit a go?

Talk to your neighbors, back in the beginning of civilization we did.
 
I would love a cafeteria type option for my service. Where you could pick and choose individual channels or groups of similar channels. My only fear with this is that the service providers would use this as a way to jack up prices. You could pick and choose, but in the end it would end up cost you more for less.

Some cable providers have tried to offer something similar, only to have the local governments deny their request to provide this option to their customers. I don't think this would be an issue with satellite service.
 
I have dish international package and Voom

There are over 2 million Indians in the United States. India has a population of over 1 billion people, second only to China. Over 400, 000 subscribe to Dish's South Asian Package, i get Ztv , Zgold, B4U, Sony, SonyMax. All these channels provide Indian movies, seriels, music videos, numerous magazine shows. I have a lot of American friends that watch Bollywood movies they are amazing.

Witness, Bride and Prejudice, just released by Miramax Pictures which stars Ashwariya Rai, the biggest herioine in Bollywood. The movie is playing in theatres currently across the United States. Julia Roberts proclaimed she is the "most beutiful woman in the world" Check out www.aishwaryaworld.com

My point is if voom could just devote 3 channels of Indian programming , they would get over 100,000 subscribers in the snap. I have to pay Dish a carriage fee of $5 just to geet the International programs , becuase i don't subscibe to any of their packages. I pay at additional $49.95 for the Pacage of Indian channels to Dish. Just think how much revenue Voom could make. All the indians could have a one satellite solution.
 
And as a "voting with their dollars" group. . . I believe Indians are far more likely to support those three channels than would a similarly sized Afro-American group.

But that still moves Voom off focus. Voom can't be everything to everyone, it is best for voom to be best at VOOM. And let others that are prepared to service the multicultural community do that. . .

UNLESS

Being best at HD isn't good enough to be successful in satellite. If that is the case then it would make the most sense for an existing Satellite Co that is successful to expand to pick up the HD market. And for Voom to go to sleep.

If Voom become another Me Too satellite service, that has "almost" all the sports that D* has, and "almost" all the cultural channels that E* has then they would be "ALMOST" a choice for service provider. It would be especially easy to then say, that E* has 120 channels and voom only as 119, E* wins. D* has all the sports channels and Voom has almost all the sports channels, D* wins.

I pitty the Burger Joint that says "we're just as good as McD's" . I ain't one of their customers.

Voom has to make it on HD. That is what makes it different than the others. Homogenizing itself into ALMOST D* E*, is a losing proposition.
 
67Yv8t said:
Voom has to make it on HD. That is what makes it different than the others. Homogenizing itself into ALMOST D* E*, is a losing proposition.

That's a great plan for about the next two years, after that Voom will need to move on to something else. Because at that point just about everything will be rapidly shifting to HD and Voom won't have market differentiation for much longer. So Voom will either need to be everything to everyone or it will need to find another niche or be much better at HD programming than everyone else. And within another year or two, being much better at HD than everyone else won't really be possible because to do that they will need to be everything to everyone because everyone will be HD. Therefore within 2-3 years, Voom has to have a good chunk of market share or a unique new way to be different.
 
You are a little deluded to believe that everything will be HD in two years. Even if the FCC held to their mandate for HD, it would only apply to free OTA services, not to subscriber services, that's why Howard Stern Isn't concerned with the FCC anymore, and why decency rules are different for The OTA broadcasters and Cable/DBS Channels.

It could be that at some point more private channels will opt to go HD, but only when it is economically advantageous. Since most of the Top 46/60/120 channels air 95% rerun each month it would take years to process out their existing inventory, even if the started producing HD today, it would be years before it would be feasible to cut over to the HD format. And since Alton Brown, Sander Van Oker, and Jane Pauley are still producing 4/3 SD programs. It will be decades before those channels make the HD leap.

When the Premium Channels start converting (not just giving a token nod) to HD, then I'll side with you that there is a change a comin'. But until then it is SD for the masses. Not even MTV is adjusting to HD, And most of their content providers would probably be glad to showcase themselves in HD. So maybe when MTVHD gets underway, that would be a sign of the change.

But for now, HD will continue to be less common than an HBO subscription. But that doesn't mean it can't be profitable.

Will Voom expand it's offering? Absolutely, maybe even the Gene Scott Channel (for those that are familiar with C-Band). But will expanding the offering and expanding the cost (to Bandwidth, programming, Technicians, Support, Etc) bring on a lot of new subs? no. Could they get milage out of not three SD Indian Channels but 1 new indian channel in HD? yeah!! Would you want to see Ashwariya Rai, and some of the Bollywood content in glorious HD? you think she's beautiful in SD. . . And could Bollywood internally master HD content ready for Voom, yeah. So what if a bollywood producer, did the remasters, offered 12 months of Indian classic content to Voom, all they need is transponder space. Win Win Win.

Will Voom be able to replace another service entirely for everyone? no, will it satisfy my basic SD needs while giving me something extra? Yes. For those that want an E* offering AND HD could they get a mix to satisfy them? YES.

There is a poll on this site that seems to show that many people suppliment Voom or use Voom to suppliment something else. If Voom Stays independently distributed, or becomes piggy backed onto other service providers equipment is really not important. Do you care if the receiver has the rainbow voom logo on it?

It will never be a perfect world there will always be overlap, but I can tell you, I'll be happier that there is less overlap if I choose two services.

What we all need to do is go out and encourage our neighbors to try Voom.

IT'S a BUCK!!!! and 6 months of movies they probably haven't seen, can't say that about their starz subscription. If it all goes away, then it is less than 6 months of new movies and they can be back up with their same-ol' in less than a day.

Even those that are voom haters, encourage your neighbors, prove that voom can't work even with your help, instead of it proving successful in spite of your efforts.

Vooms success will be good for every subscriber of every service. D* will actually ramp up it's HD format if they see Subs willing to change for HD. E* might even begin to talk about offering HD, so that would be something more that you whiny asses can complain about.

SEE, there is something good for everyone in VOOMS Success, the whiners will have more to whine about and the winners will have more to enjoy.
 
To expect Voom to try and compete on breadth of offerings would be a mistake.

I've been to restaurants that have a 47 page menu, and serve everything from barbeque to vegetarian, and I don't normally go back. It certainly wouldn't be my choice for only place to eat.

The most successful businesses don't expect to get all the business, they specialize in doing the best is one area. Even those that venture away from their core, normally find they are moving away from success. McDonalds has try a lot "vertical Market" products, and other than fresh baked cookies has met with little success.

To try and tear away a significant segment of E* clients, by claiming a (Me Too) "we have 'some' of your cultural channels" is not going to get anyone excited about jumping ship.

I think V* has done a good job of determining the strengths of it's competitors, and not going head to head, but taking an unserviced market (HD) and said "we are the best and will continue to be better than everyone else from now on".

They need to capitalize on that.

They also realize that many people want more than just a few HD channels, so they included a core of the most popular SD channels. This makes them very competitive with local cable for many parts of the company. they offer about as much as my basic cable and add HD for a reasonable added cost. My cost for High end cable (more, not necessarily better channels) is about what I be payng for Voom (when it is installed).

It's not the cultural channels that made me switch, not the Sports Package that made me switch, Not the number of channels that made me switch. It was HD, with enough standard channels to be a "complete enough" package for my needs. If I NEEDED sports and HD, then I guess I'm a buyer of two services, and I would only want to pay as little as possible for duplication of channels between the services.

One other benefit for me with Voom, which also seems to be one of the big cost problems for Voom, is that I get all my locals in Uncompressed HD, since they are all offered OTA.

Not available with D* or E*. And admittedly not a benefit for a large part of the country.

My Brother in Law and I had a discussion about subscribing only to the channels that we actually want. truly I spend more than 80% of my time watching less than 20% of the channels offered.

How about a deal where I can create my own package on E* that would be for maybe 15 of the best channels to add to whatever service, Cable, Voom, or just OTA for $20 a month.

And Have Voom ultimately offer the same thing, 15-20 channels of real HD to add to my Dish Sports Subscription.

All of these are great ways to increase marketshare by making a smaller cost for the sub so it becomes an easy impulse purchase.

But that has to be after Voom increases their base.

Do your part. Talk to your neighbors, encourage them to try Voom.

It's a BUCK. Whether they do voom or VAVA Voom, it is reasonably comparable in cost to what they are paying and they will have a new mix of content. How many of us get board with the HBO Subscription after 2 months, because it's the same movies each month?

They can always go back to the same-ol' in six months and that will seem new and interesting.

If you argue that Churn will not be a solution, I can tell you the Technically elite are a nervous group that is contantly wanting to change. The Masses, they is a stable crowd, most are always happy with the status quo. Most will stay right where they are unless there is a real hot fire stuck under their but.

Voom needs their service to move away from the elite class. And you can help. Most of you technically elite have neighbors that are not. Become shepards, move the flock to the promised land of HD.

this is an opportunity to see just how much influence a small group (26,000)of dedicated zealots has on the future of this country.

Whaddya think, wanna givit a go?

Talk to your neighbors, back in the beginning of civilization we did.
 
67Yv8t said:
Talk to your neighbors, back in the beginning of civilization we did.
Damn, man -- how old are you? :D

I have no luck at all with my neighbors. I'm not exactly in an HD kind of neighborhood. I'm in more of a watch-"Cops"-in-SD-and-see-if-any-of-your-neighbors-are-on-it kind of neighborhood. And there just don't seem to be many folks interested in switching to Voom -- or even just trying it out temporarily -- for their SD offerings. Just too many holes - Fox Sports Detroit being a glaring omission around here. I think they need to roll out one of those 47-page menus you've seen, or just settle for getting as many of the HD folks as they can while letting the SD folks choose between Direct, Dish and cable. International channels seem as good a place as anywhere to start -- pick a nationality/language and get all their channels available and wait for 'em to line up to switch. Pick up all the Spanish-speaking channels and maybe the good folks in Detroit's Mexicantown will start switching over from Dish.
 
I would like to see NHK from Japan be added they have a ton of HD.. if you do not belive me almost every program you see on Discovery HD is from Nhk. Plus it would be good to watch Sumo again in HD.......
 
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