G
greatermac
Guest
Original poster
Come on! It has been around less that two, years, and until the last
couple of months a well kept secret, due to poor advertising. There is
a lot more buzz now, and eventually it would translate into
subscribers. Hang in there, love your movie channel exclusives and
Equator - really DON'T want to go back to Dish!
--- In VOOM@yahoogroups.com, "thegrod" <bruceg@h...> wrote:
> Oh boy is right! I still think it will at the least be bought...
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "seattlesatelliter" <seattlesatelliter@y...>
> To: <VOOM@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 1:24 PM
> Subject: [VOOM] Re: oh boy !
>
>
> >
> >
> > Thanks for the post. There are already pages of comments over on
satguys.
> >
> > Still watching HDTV in a "pineapple express" event in Seattle, Gill
> >
> >
> > --- In VOOM@yahoogroups.com, "johnnytv2004" <johnnytv2004@y...> wrote:
> >>
> >>
http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzvoom0119,0,4038866.story?coll=ny-
> >> business-l\
> >> eadheadlines
> >>
> >> Dolans duking it out over Voom
> >> Father and son Cablevision bosses split on booting unprofitable
> >> satellite TV venture
> >>
> >> BY HARRY BERKOWITZ
> >> STAFF WRITER
> >>
> >> January 18, 2005, 3:11 PM EST
> >>
> >> Charles and James Dolan, the father and son who control Cablevision
> >> Systems Corp., appear headed for an unprecedented showdown over
> >> whether to abandon their ailing Voom satellite TV venture.
> >>
> >> Charles Dolan, the Cablevision chairman and founder, apparently wants
> >> to keep the nationwide satellite service that was launched in October
> >> 2003 alive even though it is losing hundreds of millions of dollars
> >> and attracting few subscribers.
> >>
> >> James Dolan, chief executive of the New York metro area's biggest
> >> cable TV service, who has promised investors that Cablevision would
> >> stop going off on costly tangents as it has repeatedly in the past,
> >> apparently wants to end the all-but-failed experiment. That means
> >> dropping Voom and possibly selling its sole satellite.
> >>
> >> The Cablevision board of directors was reportedly taking up the issue
> >> Tuesday in the face of complaints from analysts and investors that
> >> Voom, which had only 26,000 customers as of Sept. 30, threatens to
> >> continue to drain company profits and hold down the stock price.
> >>
> >> "It would be very difficult for the independent directors to approve
> >> additional spending for Voom," said Craig Moffett, an analyst for the
> >> investment firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. "At the same time, it
would
> >> take something close to a boardroom coup for Chuck Dolan to force out
> >> the independent directors in order to renew investment in Voom. In
> >> this environment of corporate governance, that's an awfully hard
> >> scenario to imagine."
> >>
> >> That seemed to threaten a stalemate unless Charles Dolan bowed to his
> >> son's view.
> >>
> >> "Despite public sentiment, the company still does not appear to have
> >> decided the ultimate outcome, with the board seemingly divided,
though
> >> tilted slightly in favor of selling or shutting it down," UBS
> >> investment analyst Aryeh Bourkoff told investors, adding that
> >> "dissension could lead to a public battle." The board meeting was
> >> first reported Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal.
> >>
> >> Last year, Cablevision planned to spin off Voom, along with cable
> >> channels including AMC and IFC, as a separate company, ending the
> >> drain on Cablevision profits.
> >>
> >> But after repeatedly delaying the spinoff, citing the need for board
> >> and regulatory approval, last month Cablevision suspended the plan,
> >> saying in a filing that it would seek "strategic alternatives" for
> >> Voom, which analysts took to mean a sale or shutdown.
> >>
> >> But for Charles Dolan, 78, Voom could be the last hurrah in an
> >> illustrious and visionary career that included founding HBO and that
> >> often ignored naysayers who later proved to be too pessimistic. He
> >> planned to leave Cablevision to become chairman of the spinoff
> >> company, with another son, Thomas, becoming its chief executive and
> >> James, 49, taking over as Cablevision chairman.
> >>
> >> Even following the regulatory filing, Charles and Thomas sent a memo
> >> to employees saying that Voom "continues to function on a normal
daily
> >> basis" and that dropping the spinoff plan in no way "changes the
> >> fundamental premise that hard work and good performance will
leave our
> >> business with anything less than a very bright future," according to
> >> Satellite Business News, which was read parts of the memo.
> >>
> >> The father and son expressed confidence, "especially during this time
> >> of increased board oversight."
> >>
> >> But Voom, which posted a loss of $75 million in the third quarter of
> >> last year and burned through an estimated $477 million last year,
> >> according to Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen, has run into a
> >> long list of technical, marketing, installation and pricing problems.
> >>
> >> One of its main outlets for distribution, the Crutchfield catalogue
> >> and Web site, has stopped offering the service because Cablevision is
> >> setting up a new installer network after problems with the old one,
> >> said Dan Hodgson, senior vice president for business development at
> >> Crutchfield in Charlottesville, Va.
> >>
> >> Nonetheless, Voom continues to expand its channel lineup, which
> >> stresses HDTV, and Cablevision signed a $740 million contract with
> >> Lockheed Martin last month to develop new satellites for Voom.
> >>
> >> "Why is Voom still on the table?" said Mario Gabelli, whose
investment
> >> firm has long held major stakes in Cablevision and who has long known
> >> Charles Dolan. "Why is he trying to breath life into a project that
> >> his board turned down? The stock today could be 10 points higher."
> >>
> >> At mid-afternoon, Cablevision stock, which had jumped more than $3 in
> >> a day following last month's regulatory filing, was down 36 cents per
> >> share, or 1.5 percent, at $23.99.
> >>
> >> "It's been clear for some months now that Jimmy Dolan would prefer to
> >> see the business closed or sold," said Moffett, the analyst.
> >>
> >> The Dolan family controls 75 percent of the company's voting shares,
> >> with Charles controlling 41 percent directly. That means if he
> >> persists in his backing of Voom despite board opposition, he could
> >> seek to overhaul the board.
> >>
> >> The 14-member board has become less predictable following the
> >> appointment of several outside directors, including media investment
> >> guru Steve Rattner of the Quadrangle Group, who is believed to
> >> strongly oppose continuation of Voom.
> >>
> >> Rattner did not return calls to his office yesterday. Thomas
> >> Reifenheiser, an independent Cablevision director and former senior
> >> executive at Chase Manhattan Bank, declined to comment when
reached at
> >> his home. Vice Admiral John Ryan, president of the State
University of
> >> New York Maritime College, also declined comment. Board member John
> >> Tatta, a former Cablevision president and longtime ally of the
Dolans,
> >> was said to be in the hospital.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
------------------------
couple of months a well kept secret, due to poor advertising. There is
a lot more buzz now, and eventually it would translate into
subscribers. Hang in there, love your movie channel exclusives and
Equator - really DON'T want to go back to Dish!
--- In VOOM@yahoogroups.com, "thegrod" <bruceg@h...> wrote:
> Oh boy is right! I still think it will at the least be bought...
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "seattlesatelliter" <seattlesatelliter@y...>
> To: <VOOM@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 1:24 PM
> Subject: [VOOM] Re: oh boy !
>
>
> >
> >
> > Thanks for the post. There are already pages of comments over on
satguys.
> >
> > Still watching HDTV in a "pineapple express" event in Seattle, Gill
> >
> >
> > --- In VOOM@yahoogroups.com, "johnnytv2004" <johnnytv2004@y...> wrote:
> >>
> >>
http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzvoom0119,0,4038866.story?coll=ny-
> >> business-l\
> >> eadheadlines
> >>
> >> Dolans duking it out over Voom
> >> Father and son Cablevision bosses split on booting unprofitable
> >> satellite TV venture
> >>
> >> BY HARRY BERKOWITZ
> >> STAFF WRITER
> >>
> >> January 18, 2005, 3:11 PM EST
> >>
> >> Charles and James Dolan, the father and son who control Cablevision
> >> Systems Corp., appear headed for an unprecedented showdown over
> >> whether to abandon their ailing Voom satellite TV venture.
> >>
> >> Charles Dolan, the Cablevision chairman and founder, apparently wants
> >> to keep the nationwide satellite service that was launched in October
> >> 2003 alive even though it is losing hundreds of millions of dollars
> >> and attracting few subscribers.
> >>
> >> James Dolan, chief executive of the New York metro area's biggest
> >> cable TV service, who has promised investors that Cablevision would
> >> stop going off on costly tangents as it has repeatedly in the past,
> >> apparently wants to end the all-but-failed experiment. That means
> >> dropping Voom and possibly selling its sole satellite.
> >>
> >> The Cablevision board of directors was reportedly taking up the issue
> >> Tuesday in the face of complaints from analysts and investors that
> >> Voom, which had only 26,000 customers as of Sept. 30, threatens to
> >> continue to drain company profits and hold down the stock price.
> >>
> >> "It would be very difficult for the independent directors to approve
> >> additional spending for Voom," said Craig Moffett, an analyst for the
> >> investment firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. "At the same time, it
would
> >> take something close to a boardroom coup for Chuck Dolan to force out
> >> the independent directors in order to renew investment in Voom. In
> >> this environment of corporate governance, that's an awfully hard
> >> scenario to imagine."
> >>
> >> That seemed to threaten a stalemate unless Charles Dolan bowed to his
> >> son's view.
> >>
> >> "Despite public sentiment, the company still does not appear to have
> >> decided the ultimate outcome, with the board seemingly divided,
though
> >> tilted slightly in favor of selling or shutting it down," UBS
> >> investment analyst Aryeh Bourkoff told investors, adding that
> >> "dissension could lead to a public battle." The board meeting was
> >> first reported Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal.
> >>
> >> Last year, Cablevision planned to spin off Voom, along with cable
> >> channels including AMC and IFC, as a separate company, ending the
> >> drain on Cablevision profits.
> >>
> >> But after repeatedly delaying the spinoff, citing the need for board
> >> and regulatory approval, last month Cablevision suspended the plan,
> >> saying in a filing that it would seek "strategic alternatives" for
> >> Voom, which analysts took to mean a sale or shutdown.
> >>
> >> But for Charles Dolan, 78, Voom could be the last hurrah in an
> >> illustrious and visionary career that included founding HBO and that
> >> often ignored naysayers who later proved to be too pessimistic. He
> >> planned to leave Cablevision to become chairman of the spinoff
> >> company, with another son, Thomas, becoming its chief executive and
> >> James, 49, taking over as Cablevision chairman.
> >>
> >> Even following the regulatory filing, Charles and Thomas sent a memo
> >> to employees saying that Voom "continues to function on a normal
daily
> >> basis" and that dropping the spinoff plan in no way "changes the
> >> fundamental premise that hard work and good performance will
leave our
> >> business with anything less than a very bright future," according to
> >> Satellite Business News, which was read parts of the memo.
> >>
> >> The father and son expressed confidence, "especially during this time
> >> of increased board oversight."
> >>
> >> But Voom, which posted a loss of $75 million in the third quarter of
> >> last year and burned through an estimated $477 million last year,
> >> according to Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen, has run into a
> >> long list of technical, marketing, installation and pricing problems.
> >>
> >> One of its main outlets for distribution, the Crutchfield catalogue
> >> and Web site, has stopped offering the service because Cablevision is
> >> setting up a new installer network after problems with the old one,
> >> said Dan Hodgson, senior vice president for business development at
> >> Crutchfield in Charlottesville, Va.
> >>
> >> Nonetheless, Voom continues to expand its channel lineup, which
> >> stresses HDTV, and Cablevision signed a $740 million contract with
> >> Lockheed Martin last month to develop new satellites for Voom.
> >>
> >> "Why is Voom still on the table?" said Mario Gabelli, whose
investment
> >> firm has long held major stakes in Cablevision and who has long known
> >> Charles Dolan. "Why is he trying to breath life into a project that
> >> his board turned down? The stock today could be 10 points higher."
> >>
> >> At mid-afternoon, Cablevision stock, which had jumped more than $3 in
> >> a day following last month's regulatory filing, was down 36 cents per
> >> share, or 1.5 percent, at $23.99.
> >>
> >> "It's been clear for some months now that Jimmy Dolan would prefer to
> >> see the business closed or sold," said Moffett, the analyst.
> >>
> >> The Dolan family controls 75 percent of the company's voting shares,
> >> with Charles controlling 41 percent directly. That means if he
> >> persists in his backing of Voom despite board opposition, he could
> >> seek to overhaul the board.
> >>
> >> The 14-member board has become less predictable following the
> >> appointment of several outside directors, including media investment
> >> guru Steve Rattner of the Quadrangle Group, who is believed to
> >> strongly oppose continuation of Voom.
> >>
> >> Rattner did not return calls to his office yesterday. Thomas
> >> Reifenheiser, an independent Cablevision director and former senior
> >> executive at Chase Manhattan Bank, declined to comment when
reached at
> >> his home. Vice Admiral John Ryan, president of the State
University of
> >> New York Maritime College, also declined comment. Board member John
> >> Tatta, a former Cablevision president and longtime ally of the
Dolans,
> >> was said to be in the hospital.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
------------------------
