Ten Million HDTV's in U.S. homes!!! And VOOM only got 40,000 subscribers

[nnicko]

Ten Million HDTV's in U.S. homes!!! And VOOM only got 40,000 subscribers???

I don't know who to be more pissed at. VOOM for doing a poor marketing job, Chuckie's son and the Cablevision board for having shortsightedness or 9,960,000 bozos for not signing on to VOOM????? Maybe someone should do a poll for the fun of it. I would but I don't know how.

 

[jeslevine]

you should be pissed at all of the above

they gave the impression that the Voom content could only be viewed on an HD monitor, and that was simply not the case

 

[Stuart-B]

The biggest reason was that Voom was poorly promoted. The only people I knew who knew of Voom were the ones I told!

Compare that to D*, for example, where every road I drive down has dealers advertising installs, etc and every time I open my mail box to find D* and E* promotions stuffed in.

 

[Tvlman]

There were probably other reasons such as:

1- lack of confidence in a new service that markets through Sears and not one major electronic store (Circuit City, Best Buy, Good Guys).

2-poor or bad installation experiences we have all read about (and maybe experienced).

3- untrained or unknowledgeable CSR's.

4- general lack of knowledge on the part of the public about HDTV.

5- Satellite at Sunrise position with easily obstructed LOS.

But that is all in the past now. We have a chance to get VOOM on DISH. Just hope that Charlie comes across with the rest of the VOOM channels. That "sometime next year for the other 11 channels" strikes me as vague. But I'm working on getting my 10 channels of VOOM set up.

 

[mdonnelly]

There were probably other reasons such as:

1- lack of confidence in a new service that markets through Sears and not one major electronic store (Circuit City, Best Buy, Good Guys).

2-poor or bad installation experiences we have all read about (and maybe experienced).

3- untrained or unknowledgeable CSR's.

4- general lack of knowledge on the part of the public about HDTV.

5- Satellite at Sunrise position with easily obstructed LOS.

But that is all in the past now. We have a chance to get VOOM on DISH. Just hope that Charlie comes across with the rest of the VOOM channels. That "sometime next year for the other 11 channels" strikes me as vague. But I'm working on getting my 10 channels of VOOM set up.

Add to that:

No locals - that's what cable was invented for, people who couldn't get their local stations clearly.

No Regional Sports Networks - cry HD PQ all you want, most guys who spend big bucks on big screen HD TV sets want to watch SPORTS on weekends.

 

[phatbastard]

It was locals that killed them the most.... I have heard plenty of forums say I ordered voom and did not get my locals and cancelled voom....Would of been a problem for me except i got a huge attic and a huge antenna..marketing was crapola, sears c'mon they suck.... I dont think anybody goes there to make electronic purchases.. The electronics department is always dusty, stuff scattered everyhwere, and not much to choose from...

 

[mike123abc]

Locals has become critical to satellite TV. When Dish/DIRECTV started out they picked up the first couple million C-Band and others that were not covered by cable. The explosive growth of DBS came when LIL started up. That is why Dish pretty much dropped all other priorities the last few years to rush out all these markets to LIL.

By the time VOOM came around people expected to get their locals from DBS without any hassel. People live with SD locals on DBS even if they get OTA HD to fill in the gaps where they cannot get OTA digital channels.

Most of my local digital broadcasts are still too unreliable for me to count on recording them. If I am here I will watch them, but when gone I rely on the Dish LIL. The locals (I am in a smaller market) constantely turn off their digital transmitters for one reason or another, are very low power, will mess up PSIP for a while before getting around to fix it, etc. Half the time I have to call the station to get them to fix something that they were not even aware of...

My rant about the local digital stations could go on and on, VOOM would not have really been a good choice in my market.

 

[lilyarbie]

I think Wal-mart would have gotten the word out.....

An exclusive deal with Wal-mart to showcase the Voom service would have done better. Sears was the biggest retailer back in the hay-day from the time they got their catalog in the 1800's out to people up until somewhere in the 20th century before Wal-mart became the most popular store. A majority of Americans shop this monopolistic conglomerate of a store and any technology they are exposed to are usually through going through Wal-mart's electronics department. Wal-mart has an exclusive deal to sell DirecTV contracts and the only channels they show for HD is those that are carried by DirecTV. Why do I know all this? Well, because I work there.

 

[Ronald_Jeremy]

OMFG!!! I can imagine being an average consumer and going in and having to deal with a Wal-Mart ASSociate on something this technical in nature!! Present company excluded, of course!.

 

[PONCH]

9,960,000 bozos for not signing on to VOOM

These are the people that we should mainly blame. So now we get less HD than Voom for $5.00 more per month. If only they realized that they could have had more HD for only the equivalent of What D* and E* charged for their original HD packs. You know when D* expands their line up of HD content, they will follow suit and impose a price hike just like E* did. So when you here them b****en over in the E* forums about what their being charged, go ahead and point out their short sightedness.

me

 

[lilyarbie]

I always mentioned Voom to customers.......

Whenever I was trying to sell an HDTV, I would always mention the satellite providers of HD content, since the cable companies in my area are SD only. One of the providers I would mention would be Voom and it's abundance of HD channels compared to DirecTV and Dish Network's 5 or 6 HD channels. The reaction I got from everyone is "I've never heard of that company." Of course, when the announcement was made about shutdown, I quit mentioning anything about Voom. I guess now I will have to stress the importance of Dish Network and their new HD additions, even though we sell DirecTV contracts. The contracts suck anyways because you pay $20.00 bucks, call an installer, and have them come to your home to do the install. I'd rather eliminate the first step and just call an installer first. I admit that not everyone out there that works at Wal-mart gives a hoot about knowing things involving technology or would even care about helping most people. I guess that's probably because we get paid $6.00 or $7.00 dollars per hour and have to deal with customers that want to cuss you out or complain about every little thing. Also, the fact that they're working for a company that only cares about making money for itself and it's CEO. Oh and they're anti-union too. Don't even mention the work Union because that's a no-no. My job sucks, but I'm stuck with it a while to get me through college.

 

[Paradox-SJ]

No DVR!!!! nough said

 

[Stargazer]

It takes time for a company to get off the ground and seeing how they did not have the locals that did put one of the biggest hurts on them. They also did not have as many SD channels available as cable or Dish/DirecTv. They also didnt release their DVR.

 

[Ronald_Jeremy]

Whenever I was trying to sell an HDTV, I would always mention the satellite providers of HD content, since the cable companies in my area are SD only. One of the providers I would mention would be Voom and it's abundance of HD channels compared to DirecTV and Dish Network's 5 or 6 HD channels. The reaction I got from everyone is "I've never heard of that company." Of course, when the announcement was made about shutdown, I quit mentioning anything about Voom. I guess now I will have to stress the importance of Dish Network and their new HD additions, even though we sell DirecTV contracts. The contracts suck anyways because you pay $20.00 bucks, call an installer, and have them come to your home to do the install. I'd rather eliminate the first step and just call an installer first. I admit that not everyone out there that works at Wal-mart gives a hoot about knowing things involving technology or would even care about helping most people. I guess that's probably because we get paid $6.00 or $7.00 dollars per hour and have to deal with customers that want to cuss you out or complain about every little thing. Also, the fact that they're working for a company that only cares about making money for itself and it's CEO. Oh and they're anti-union too. Don't even mention the work Union because that's a no-no. My job sucks, but I'm stuck with it a while to get me through college.

Lily, you are an exception to the rule of WM associates. If WM unionizes, it will be the end of WM. Higher prices with the same sh!tty service. You say people cuss you out or complain for every little thing. What are those things? Mainly lack luster help, no knowledge of where to find a product, or no knowledge if you have back stock when the shelf is empty. Is it outrageous to expect product to be on the shelf? If someone is working in an area, is it unreasonable for them to have a simple knowledge of what they are tending to? A couple times I have even gone to the cigarette checkout (don't get me started on that) and asked for Marlboro Ultra Lights and the ASSociate had to have me point them out to her. Then she says "I don't know nothing about no cigarettes!" Well WTF are you doing on the cigarette aisle?????? Sit you fat ass down on a stool and spend 5 minutes learning what you sell.

Any monkey can put product on the shelf and make the customer feel appreciated. But the average Wal-Mart associate is not capable of that and you want a raise with union wages???? OMFG

And don't even start that CEO crapola. Executives are responsible for the largest employment numbers in the US. Should they draw $40K??? GMAFB


/hates to shop at Wal-Mart because of the ASSociates.

/makes my living as a Wal-Mart Vendor!!!

 

[James Long]

Ten Million HDTV's in U.S. homes!!! And VOOM only got 40,000 subscribers???

Actually 10 million HDTV homes worldwide, with only 4 million in the US. Go back to your source figures and read closer.

Last March (2004) there were 1.5 million US homes with HDTV. It was a good year for growth - for the HDTV marketplace.

JL

 

[lilyarbie]

For your information........

I'm not a lazy good-for-nothing Wal-mart associate. I work my butt off for that place. (not accusing you of saying so) I even overwork myself for a measily $7.25 an hour. I do help customers and try to help them the best they can. Customers don't complain or cuss at me for the stuff you mentioned. Many come in there with a bad attitude in the first place and think I should kiss their rear end and make them God or Jesus. What I was trying to get at in my last post is that the company today is different than when Sam Walton was alive and running the company. Back then, it was all about the customers as well as the workers. Now, it's all about how much more moo-lah can we make for Bentonville, Arkansas. Those commercials you see on television about Wal-mart caring for their customers. It's bull crap! They don't really care about the customer. It's all about the money they bring in. If they can in the least somewhat appease the customers with what looks like lower prices, then they can get their money and make themselves richer. The company today is corrupt compared to its humble beginnings with Mr. Walton.

 

[lilyarbie]

enough of my ranting and raving and back to subject..

Sorry I dragged this thread off the topic. Anyways, is HDTV in Europe similar to the system in the U.S. or is it separated by standards (like NTSC and PAL were for analog)? I know they use DVB instead of ATSC in their OTA digital and HD broadcasts.

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

I think the point about " 9,960,000 bozos" is valid!

I walked into my local independent video rental store tonight -- first time in ages! The owner was there. Generally a very knowledgeable guy about all things video. He said "I haven't seen you in awhile!" I said, "Yeah, about 12 months! Ever heard of VOOM?" He said slowly, "Hmmm... I think so."

I told him about VOOM with all its HDTV and how great it was, and how it looked so much better than SD videos, etc. He says "Is HDTV really any noticeable difference?" Then he said that DVDs are already better than videotape, so how much better could HDTV be? I told him that I can't wait for HD-DVDs to come out. He said, HD-DVDs might be a little bit clearer, but these DVDs are just as good.

YIKES!!! :yikes This is the responsible owner of an independent video store! So, definitely the lack of knowledge of HDTV and of VOOM is clearly what VOOM was up against!! Very few people understand, appreciate, or care about HDTV apparently!

I told the video store owner I was probably the only person in all of Santa Rosa who ever heard of VOOM, much less subscribed to it. He repeated that nobody else ever came in and mentioned it. He did not know that VOOM stopped transmitting because he never knew about VOOM in the first place!

Downright depressing!!! :down

 

[Stargazer]

Most people do not know about VoOm still yet.

 

[James Long]

I think the point about " 9,960,000 bozos" is valid!

Except it should be "3,960,000 bozos".

JL