Rainbow Spin-off is dead

[SaltiDawg]

Cablevision May Sell Satellite TV Unit

"AP
Cablevision May Sell Satellite TV Unit
December 21, 2004 3:29 PM ET

By SETH SUTEL

NEW YORK (AP) - Cablevision Systems Corp., a Long Island-based cable TV provider, said Tuesday it is suspending plans for a spinoff of its money-losing satellite broadcasting business and will put the unit on the market instead.

The high-definition satellite venture, which is marketed under the brand name VOOM, has had a tough start since being launched more than a year ago and has been a source of major concern among Cablevision's investors.
... "

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.asp?Feed=AP&Date=20041221&ID=4158182&Symbol=US:DISH

 

[Ilya]

Threads merged again...
Let's keep all discussions of the yesterday's SEC filing in this thread.

 

[spyfy]

I found this quote in the AP press release to be very interesting:

Katherine Styponias, a media industry analyst with Prudential, told investors in a research note Tuesday that the "best case scenario" was for the VOOM unit to be shut down immediately and its satellite assets sold off.

 

[BFG]

The Satellite Reporter has collected 10 and counting articles talking about this

 

[Ilya]

The Satellite Reporter has collected 10 and counting articles talking about this

Yep! I saw that!
SatelliteGuys News Feeds

 

[SaltiDawg]

Threads merged again...
Let's keep all discussions of the yesterday's SEC filing in this thread.

Ilya,

Entirely my fault. Sorry

 

[SonicRob]

Wow

Well Voom survive tell feburary and will they have there dvr allready because i was going to subscribe to Voom in feburary.

 

[jagouar]

D* and good PQ dont belong in the same sentence.

 

[mike123abc]

Well there are alternatives to both selling the company and closing the company... They could partner with someone like Echostar (or DIRECTV). VOOM could provide a programming package that they could resell. VOOM could move from a DBS player to a program provider. They could just sell off the satellite and 61.5 slots, and keep VOOM programming.

 

[Bruce]

Well there are alternatives to both selling the company and closing the company... They could partner with someone like Echostar (or DIRECTV). VOOM could provide a programming package that they could resell. VOOM could move from a DBS player to a program provider. They could just sell off the satellite and 61.5 slots, and keep VOOM programming.

I think they could make it as a provider (the only reason I ever wanted Voom was the Monsters-HD channel....damn installer) Look at what Sega did, hardware not selling (Saturn and Dreamcast),losing craploads of money, close down hardware, make Software for everybody(Playstation,X-Box,Gamecube,PC), now making craploads of money.

But they would have to repackage their channels down a lot so they would have more content on each (and not shown on other channels like HD-Net,InHD and such)

 

[vurbano]

But they would have to repackage their channels down a lot so they would have more content on each (and not shown on other channels like HD-Net,InHD and such)

Now that sounds like what I have said a hundred times on this forum.

 

[Bruce]

Now that sounds like what I have said a hundred times on this forum.

Man, don't agree with me, that just scary and wrong and against all laws of god and nature.

 

[Plywodstatebum]

Well I was going tomorrow and see about getting Va Va Voom, because N* don't know what there doing when you call them to ask about getting there system, I've had D* for 8 years and there just charging to much for the little bit of channels i get, and want 350 to upgrade to HDTV, that was the kicker. I guess I'll just wait

 

[riffjim4069]

I wonder what happens to the DVR, elliptical dish, more HD/SD channels by March, etc. Well, since VOOM has now officially exited stage left from their lengthy Quiet Period, perhaps someone from PR will start talking.

 

[stevesmall]

source




Maybe the end is near (as the naysayers say so much...). They really have a crystal ball which they borrowed from the "wall street" experts In reality, at this point it could mean a sell out or it could mean that they cannot afford to spin it off because the new company will not be able to sustain itself. I won't say statements like "Voom is dead" without backing it up with "inside information" which no one has, except VOOM/Rainbow. As a lot of us have said before, time will only tell whether VOOM will be sold or will survive.

As of today, there is a still signal being broadcasted so they are still in business. Until the day that the signal goes off the air, they will still be in business whether you like it or not. Of course, I invested $0 on it and got what I think ,a lot from it and I am still getting a whole lot from it today.

EVEN I am SADDENED because exploring alternatives is never a good sign in business but in my opinion the only way Voom is to survive is to be sold. But in truth i dont think Voom is just going to go away , in fact i think this is a new lease on life. to be taken over or reorganized is exactly what they need. i dont think anyone can argue they need to be reorganized. As for Voom selling it's brand name ? i dont think it is a brand name, at most right now it is a cool name, Voom has no brand name recognition outside of these forums and in not even a good percentage of HD equipped homes. The vast majority of people when looking for "brand" names go to circuit city, best buy, and the other big retailers thru out the country. Sears may have looked like a good day but we all know how that went. And remeber Voom put all of this money into commercials only to show them on pax , how smart was that? A much healthier return would have to given a better product than they delivered and as you all know how i feel about the service they delivered.

 

[Bruce]

I wonder what happens to the DVR, elliptical dish, more HD/SD channels by March, etc. Well, since VOOM has now officially exited stage left from their lengthy Quiet Period, perhaps someone from PR will start talking.

They are not talking, which I think means a lot.

Now, everyone keeps saying E* will buy them, D* will buy them, etc,etc.
Why would they buy V*, what good will it do, what reason would they have?

D* has Spaceway, they seem to have their plans set.

E* just launched a bird, they already have another up there in testing and I believe another in a few months, the only thing we do not know is the plan for these birds (they say everything from broadband to HD) ,and I am starting to wonder if E* really knows what is going on.

Did not the FCC say something about who could use the last 2 transponders at 61.5, and I believe they said that D* and E* could not have them because they have birds that reach all 50 states, that makes that slot less useful and the FCC might say no anyways to D* and E*.

I think it would make more sense for both D* and E*(and any one else) to wait for V* to go into bankruptcy ( if it happens), and then for very cheap, buy the assets.

 

[jagouar]

They are not talking, which I think means a lot.

Now, everyone keeps saying E* will buy them, D* will buy them, etc,etc.
Why would they buy V*, what good will it do, what reason would they have?

D* has Spaceway, they seem to have their plans set.

E* just launched a bird, they already have another up there in testing and I believe another in a few months, the only thing we do not know is the plan for these birds (they say everything from broadband to HD) ,and I am starting to wonder if E* really knows what is going on.

Did not the FCC say something about who could use the last 2 transponders at 61.5, and I believe they said that D* and E* could not have them because they have birds that reach all 50 states, that makes that slot less useful and the FCC might say no anyways to D* and E*.

I think it would make more sense for both D* and E*(and any one else) to wait for V* to go into bankruptcy ( if it happens), and then for very cheap, buy the assets.

This is exactly why I see somebody like microsoft buying V* (or partnering with them).... They still have that order for 5 sats from lockheed (5k HD channels, which would be perfect for somebody like microsoft to start up their own service)... plus the voom dvr seems like it would be setup to what microsoft plans to do with the home (make everything networkable), your MCE2005 and XBOX now and the natural progression is a tv system (they have done some IP based stuff, and I would think they would be looking to a sat delivery service), not to mention you could probably ewasily integrate a ucentric tuner into xbox2 and develop a mce card to use with MCE2005. It just seems to me like ms/voom are headed in similar directions.

 

[Sean Mota]

They are not talking, which I think means a lot..

Bruce,

it means nothing. That's typical for any public company to stay quiet and let others speculate all they want. That's normal business operation. We may not like it but that's how it is done since they have the power to swing any of their investors to make money or lose money by their decision. So the best way is to stay quiet and let everyone speculate.

 

[KyInstaller]

Voom will survive

I agree with Your comments Mr Mota. Voom has a lot, ( & I mean alot) of money behind it, not to mention they are the best HDTV provider in the world. I Don't think they are going anywhere soon.

 

[Bruce]

Bruce,

it means nothing. That's typical for any public company to stay quiet and let others speculate all they want. That's normal business operation. We may not like it but that's how it is done since they have the power to swing any of their investors to make money or lose money by their decision. So the best way is to stay quiet and let everyone speculate.

Ok, I will give you a example, a small one ,but still a example:

I own a Furniture-Matress Store ( just 1 store, but it does pretty close to a mil a year and I only have two employees and own the building), early in the year, one of the big chain stores ( 14 different locations but not in my town) came to me and offered to buy me out , we met a few times, went over the books and such and then they low balled the offer by saying if I did not sell for they were offering they were going to move into the new strip mall around the block from me and put me out of business, I said go to hell.
Well they did open, got into the newspaper about how they were the place to go, I fought back, got my own story in the paper ( my ad rep helped get me in), put more ads out, change stuff around, made deals with my vendors about costs (freight costs and such) I did not stay quiet ,I fought back in other ways I won't go into, got our name out there more, now sales are up over last year and I found out two weeks ago that they are trying to get out of their lease because their sales are only around $20 grand a month and their rent alone is $10 grand a month.

What I am trying to say here is Voom is lying down and taking it, they need to speak up ,get some positive press if they are going to stick to this, how many new subs will they get after this, who wants to sign up when the lights could be out at any time, and that is what they are reading, not Voom plans on being around for the future.

If they are done (sell,close,etc) they should be quiet, you are right about that.