The End of VOOM?

[Sean Mota]

ABC.com

Investors Cheer Cablevision's Sale of Voom Satellite TV Venture; Shares Jump 11 Percent


NEW YORK Jan 21, 2005 — Investors applauded Cablevision System Corp.'s decision to jettison its money-losing venture into the satellite TV business, which marked a defeat for Cablevision's chairman Charles Dolan, a media industry pioneer who built Cablevision into the nation's sixth-largest cable company.

Cablevision shares jumped $3.27, or 13 percent, to $28.75 in heavy trading Friday afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange, after the Bethpage, N.Y.-based company announced late Thursday that it was selling its broadcast satellite and several related assets to EchoStar Communications Corp., owner of the DISH satellite network, for $200 million in cash.

Thomas Eagan, an analyst with the Oppenheimer & Co. brokerage, told investors in a note Friday that the sale was a "positive event" for Cablevision because "it ends a costly and ultimately misguided venture into the satellite broadcasting business."

Mario Gabelli, a media investor whose funds are the largest shareholder in Cablevision outside the Dolan family, also said the sale was positive for the company, but not because Voom was necessarily a poor business idea.

"From my point of view, high definition is coming," Gabelli said. "I think Dolan had a vision, and you needed to finance it, (but) my clients are not in the venture capital business."

 

[GregN]

KA Band is not proven with rain fade and other issues so D* has some issues to over come with KA/HD LIL.

E* will maybe use KU Band and Mpg4/spots for LiL HD on the wings?
E* just needs to keep each market on one Dish for two dish solution. The one dish FCC law does not apply to digital/HD channels.

 

[scottabs]

Now is the time to step up to the plate and order everything Voom has to offer. The more revenue the easier this will be to sell to investors. I am personally upgrading my subscription to VaVaVoom in a minute to do my part. I can't order Play Boy because my wife would have my you know what's in a vice!

I'm tempted to do the same thing. Not because I think it will make a difference in the future of Voom, but because I haven't seen any of the premium HD channels. I figure that way I'll get the most out of my last few days/weeks of Voom. I might as well go out with a bang.

 

[Sean Mota]

"From my point of view, high definition is coming," Gabelli said. "I think Dolan had a vision, and you needed to finance it, (but) my clients are not in the venture capital business."


That says it all... After the Enron fiasco...

 

[TC_Lauderdale]

"From my point of view, high definition is coming," Gabelli said. "I think Dolan had a vision, and you needed to finance it, (but) my clients are not in the venture capital business."


That says it all... After the Enron fiasco...

Very Sad, I wish I had the resources to help out.

 

[kelljc]

BOTH OF MY QUOTES ARE NOT CORRECT SOMEONE HAS CHANGED: AND IT DOSES MATTER, THERE IS ONLY ONE SATELLITE AT 61.5 AND ECHO IS THE OWNER AS WHAT I'VE READ BUY BUYING BACK 13 TP'S FOR WHAT REASON GOD ONLY NOW'S. BUT i THOUGHT THIS WAS ABOUT VOOM AND HD.

 

[kelljc]

Can Any One Dispute The Fact That Echo Owns The Bird At 61.5

 

[lostcause]

Now is the time to step up to the plate and order everything Voom has to offer. The more revenue the easier this will be to sell to investors. I am personally upgrading my subscription to VaVaVoom in a minute to do my part. I can't order Play Boy because my wife would have my you know what's in a vice!

hrmm...that's a damn good idea, playboy included. I wonder if they will still grandfather me in at the old rates which I am still under. Hell, if they plan on shutting down, maybe they'll even forget to send me a bill!!!!

 

[kelljc]

I've Been A Voom Customer For 11 Months And Just Joined, I See Post's Worring About Dvr ?? And Install ,pq Ect. Why Not Help Voom Say Up?

 

[BobMurdoch]

No, Cablevision will not keep funding this financial hemorrage. Even if the deal doesn't get blessed by the Fed until 2006, 26,000 subscribers doesn't pay the salaries of the guys pushing the buttons at the uplink center. Reading between the lines, they will be pulling the plug by the end of the month, MAYBE into February. They are already going to have massive shutdown costs associated with terminating V*. Now that the future is dead, the present won't be far behind. (Whoa, that was deep.. gotta write that line down somewhere.)

 

[Ilya]

Does anyone know how long does it take for FCC to aprove a sale like this?
Are we talking days, weeks or months?

 

[lostcause]

So has anyone else followed Indy's suggestion and ordered all the channels??

 

[BFG]

Only if they're kookooo...

 

[BobMurdoch]

It took them over a year to officially nix E* buying D* a few years back. I don't see them doing this any faster than 6 months, ESPECIALLY if D* decides to try and slow down the sale by challenging it on antitrust grounds.

 

[kelljc]

Why Postpone Or Stop You Install, What Can You Loose 3.00, Give Me A Break
Install Voom You'll Like It And We'll All Have Something Good,

 

[FrankJo]

Bob,

There are no anti-trust grounds here. Consumers still have a choice of providers. Besides, this is not a merger. E* merely puchased an asset from another company that was willing to sell them.

 

[kelljc]

WELL OK GUY'S i SEE THAT 1/2 OR MORE OF THE PEOPLE ON THIS SITE DON'T EVEN HAVE VOOM SO WHY ARE THEY SPEAKING OF IT. OR IS IT MONKEY SEE'S MONKEY DOES. TYPE OF DEAL.

 

[Bruce]

Does anyone know how long does it take for FCC to aprove a sale like this?
Are we talking days, weeks or months?

It will go faster if they shut Voom down first, then the FCC can't come back and say " we really want 3 DBS companies", if Voom is already turned off, the FCC does not have much choice.

 

[joverstr2]

WELL OK GUY'S i SEE THAT 1/2 OR MORE OF THE PEOPLE ON THIS SITE DON'T EVEN HAVE VOOM SO WHY ARE THEY SPEAKING OF IT. OR IS IT MONKEY SEE'S MONKEY DOES. TYPE OF DEAL.

You do realize that all caps are considered screaming don't you? You've been registered a whole 5 days and allready outnumber me in posts.

 

[HiDefGuy]

I'm sorry I have to post again, but this nonsense is driving me up the wall.

Come over and put a bullet in my brain if I'm wrong.

Rainbow 1, was launched July 17, 2003 on the third launch of the Atlas V.
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Rainbow 1, a high power Ku-band satellite, will provide direct broadcast services across the continental United States (CONUS) from its final orbital location at 61.5 degrees west longitude. The spacecraft features 24 MHz Ku-band high power transponders with a combination of 135 watt and 65 watt power amplifiers. The flexible design of the payload provides full interconnectivity to provide either all CONUS or all spot beam coverage through 22 individually programmable spot beams or a selectable mixture of both spot and CONUS coverage. Rainbow is an A2100AX satellite, manufactured by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, Newtown, Pa., with a predicted service life of 18 years.
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EchoStar 3 was launched October 5, 1997 on an Atlas IIAS.
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EchoStar III, a Lockheed Martin A2100 satellite, was launched successfully from Cape Canaveral, Florida on an Atlas IIAS launch vehicle on October 5, 1997 and is orbiting at 61.5 degrees West Longitude.


For the last time: There are two separate, distinct satellites residing at approx. 61.5W. One, EchoStar 3, is owned by EchoStar Communications. The other, Rainbow 1, is owned by Cablevision, and is pending sale to EchoStar. Once the sale is approved and completed, EchoStar communications will own two separate, distinct satellites at approx. 61.5W.

So help me God.