I agree with Vurbano. Combine exclusives, get rid of Moov, and a few others, and improve PQ. I think this would help a lot. I will stick it out with Voom. Lord knows I have earned the right to bitch. But overall I want Voom to succeed. At this point with the current PQ, problems, etc, I can not recommend Voom to anyone else. But so far I haven't left yet. But I'll be the first one to recomend Voom when the problems get ironed out. This includes better PQ like I had back in March when I signed up. Also I think Voom should rethink their installation rule. They should allow self installs. If a person really screws up the install or gets in over their heads, then Voom should charge for an installer. I know I have a friend that installed his own D system but has stayed away from Voom because they will not allow him to self install. He has read about all the install nightmares and refuses to stay home and wonder if an installer will or will not show up.
VOOM & CVC Q2 Report
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- Nov 29, 2003
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Ilya said:
Remember D* and E* were both around for a while before they started offering Free Install and units,they both had a good cash flow because of subscribers already there with them,Voom has none of that,not enough people for a good flow of cash coming in,they might not be able to afford free installs anymore,say that they pay each installer $100.00(I think that might be low) so each 10,000 subs cost them $1,000,000 and then cost for units(STB,Dish,Antenna,etc),programing(which might be high based on what Charlie said what E* paid for programing when they first started,higher costs for start-ups),service calls,employees,new bigger dishes,new birds maybe,that is a lot of Cash outgoing and not enough (not nearly enough) coming in.
Did I not read that Cablevision was capping the cash spent at $600 million?
I for one like MOOV and would miss it if it were to go away. Hey, for a cheap thrill watch Ultra HD, you will find see thru clothing and the occassional boob pop out :yikes Most of the stuff on Ultra HD is the same thing on Fashion TV that I used to get when I had GlobeCast.
Rave and Rush are 2 channels I can do without
Rave and Rush are 2 channels I can do without
churn and the major seller of Voom(from pru securities)
VOOM increased subs, but so did costs. VOOM increased subs to 25,000 from 8,000 last
quarter, but operating cash flow losses increased from $45 mil. last quarter to $72 mil. this one.
VOOM churn (since inception of service) improved, but only slightly from 21% as April 2004 to
a little less than 20% as of the end of June. According to management, about 20% of VOOM
sales are coming through the online website of Crutchfield.com.
VOOM increased subs, but so did costs. VOOM increased subs to 25,000 from 8,000 last
quarter, but operating cash flow losses increased from $45 mil. last quarter to $72 mil. this one.
VOOM churn (since inception of service) improved, but only slightly from 21% as April 2004 to
a little less than 20% as of the end of June. According to management, about 20% of VOOM
sales are coming through the online website of Crutchfield.com.
You mean 30 instead of 36. Considering I can only get about 6 or 7 from D* I dont see the big deal here. And with a customer base of only 25,000, trust me, only a very very insignificant number of the population knows that Voom is a sat service and not the sound a car makes.Dvlos said:
If in fact it is true that 20% of VOOM's new subs come from Crutchfield, VOOM should fire its entire marketing/advertising team today.
Right now.
Right now.
- Nov 29, 2003
- 14,386
- 18,487
rang1995 said:
Did I not read that last quarter that it said 8000 subs with 3000-4000 pending in that quarter,which is 11,000-12,000,that means subs just did a little more then double since its first 3 months of customers paying for programing?
I think Voom is going to survive... In 2006 every t.v. made is going to be High Def ready. Cablevision is a financial powerhouse and they will keep investing in Voom until every bug is fixed and they are the leading Satellite provider... I have faith in Voom and i am going to stick it out as long as i can....
As an economist who analyzes industries I would say that Voom certainly has a challenging road ahead. I think their minimum stated subscriber base for financial viability is 2 million. In order to get there, they need to first of all attract people who are willing to use satellite over cable and also distinguish themselves from D* and E*. D* and E* have what us economists call a "first mover advantage." They have made the major inroads into satellite and a new entrant needs to induce customers to switch either through superior price or quality.
At this point, I would guess that the 25K subscribers is well below Voom's expectations especially given there no upfront cost and free installation promotion. I would guess there latest change in pricing and installation fees is part of an overall change in their marketing strategy. Rather than buying customers with price they are shifting to trying to buy them with better quality programming and service. Of course, all of this is amidst a cash flow constraint in which they need $1 billion in additional financing. I should note also that some news stories are indicating that Cablevision is going to spin off Rainbow due to tensions between the founder and his son.
I think the true test will come in October when they expand their sat capacity and programming and hopefully get HD PVR. But somehow and someway they need to show that they are significantly better than D* and E* when it comes to HD programming.
If I had to guess I would say that its likely that Voom will be bought by E*. But if that happens and at least some of the HD programming is folded in to Dish and the Voom customers are transitioned, what would be the harm?
As for me, like many of the others, I want to go with a sat company with a commitment towards HD. At the very least, this lets everyone know that we want more HD!
At this point, I would guess that the 25K subscribers is well below Voom's expectations especially given there no upfront cost and free installation promotion. I would guess there latest change in pricing and installation fees is part of an overall change in their marketing strategy. Rather than buying customers with price they are shifting to trying to buy them with better quality programming and service. Of course, all of this is amidst a cash flow constraint in which they need $1 billion in additional financing. I should note also that some news stories are indicating that Cablevision is going to spin off Rainbow due to tensions between the founder and his son.
I think the true test will come in October when they expand their sat capacity and programming and hopefully get HD PVR. But somehow and someway they need to show that they are significantly better than D* and E* when it comes to HD programming.
If I had to guess I would say that its likely that Voom will be bought by E*. But if that happens and at least some of the HD programming is folded in to Dish and the Voom customers are transitioned, what would be the harm?
As for me, like many of the others, I want to go with a sat company with a commitment towards HD. At the very least, this lets everyone know that we want more HD!
I think everyone gets too hung up on the future. Who cares what will happen to the company three years or five years down the road? That's a long time for a current Voom subscriber to live in the moment, and to enjoy a technology that's not available (in this quantity and quality) anywhere else. Even if you're one of the earliest who invested, say, $1000 in equipment, that's only 68 cents per day if Voom disappears completely after 4 years and all your hardware becomes obsolete.
I also think that if Voom starts advertising, and gets some dealers on board at stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, and Costco where people actually buy electronics (as opposed to Sears where people buy flannel shirts and hammers), they will see some real growth. None of my friends or family ever heard of Voom until I told them about it, but everyone knows the DirecTV and Dish Network brands because they see them everywhere in stores.
My guess (and it's only a guess -- I know nothing, really) is that they are still not ready for rapid growth, and that "warming up" with 25,000 beta testers, er, I mean, early adopters, suits them just fine for now.
I also think that if Voom starts advertising, and gets some dealers on board at stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, and Costco where people actually buy electronics (as opposed to Sears where people buy flannel shirts and hammers), they will see some real growth. None of my friends or family ever heard of Voom until I told them about it, but everyone knows the DirecTV and Dish Network brands because they see them everywhere in stores.
My guess (and it's only a guess -- I know nothing, really) is that they are still not ready for rapid growth, and that "warming up" with 25,000 beta testers, er, I mean, early adopters, suits them just fine for now.
