Voom Sale Leaves Customers Cold

[Walter L.]

source

Voom Sale Leaves Customers Cold

Cablevision Systems Corp.’s $200 million sale of Voom satellite assets to EchoStar Communications Corp. left thousands of subscribers — many of whom have spent more than $1,000 on Voom hardware — in limbo.

Cablevision has said that it will continue to operate Voom during a “transition period” before the transaction between its Rainbow DBS unit and EchoStar closes.

EchoStar isn’t buying Voom customers, last reported at 26,000. Voom continues to accept new orders, but several customers said they are weighing whether to order another cable or satellite HDTV service in anticipation of Voom’s shutdown. Others have already made the switch.

Voom hasn’t sent any notification to subscribers about the sale, or a possible shutdown of the service, customers said. Cablevision and Voom officials declined to comment on the fate of the Voom customers, including questions regarding whether Cablevision and Voom are obligated to notify customers about the service’s future.

The Carmel Group analyst Jimmy Schaeffler estimated Voom’s 26,000 customers could fetch $30 to $40 million in a sale, and said it’s still possible EchoStar could buy them.

 

[Walter L.]

The Carmel Group analyst Jimmy Schaeffler estimated Voom’s 26,000 customers could fetch $30 to $40 million in a sale, and said it’s still possible EchoStar could buy them.

At least this is the 1st article that says that we're worth something

 

[Ilya]

I don't see how E* can possibly buy customers from VOOM without buying the programming too. If the new company cannot continue offering the same services, customers are not going to honor such sale and any previous commitments would be void.

 

[patrickpiteo]

All the speculation / false information and any one else wit a crystal ball or tarot cards does not know what is really going to happen. The only ones that really do have not said anything yet..

 

[The Stone Man]

As Voom customers, that means we are worth anywhere from around $1100 to slightly more than $1500 per subscriber. If E* was thinking about buying the customers, they could probably get at least half of the current subscriber list by doing nothing and paying nothing. If you were Charles Ergen, what would you do?

a. Spend up to 40 million dollars to get 26,000 subscribers
b. Spend 0 dollars to get 13,000 subscribers

Pretty simple decision if you ask me.

 

[Ilya]

I understand what you mean, Stone Man, but again, I question even the existence of option (a).

As a VOOM customer, I expect to have 30+ HD channels. This is what we signed up for, and this is what we were promised. If E* were to purchase me as a customer and offer me 5-7 HD channels instead. I would not honor such transfer and would leave them immediately. Many would do the same thing. Even those with 6-month contract, as such contract would become void. So, why would E* even bother buying us from VOOM when they know most of us would not stay? The only scenario in which they can possibly buy and maintain VOOM customers, would be offering the same or equivalent service (i.e. 30+ HD channels), at least initially...

 

[Amphicar770]

I am sure E* is considering buying the custs but placing a value is a tough call. How many of those subs would actually sign up with E* is the big question.

E* might not have to offer the entire VOOM package but would clearly have to become the HD leader overnight in order to retain those custs. Currently, E* lags pretty far behind both D* and cable in their HD offerings and Charlie claims that there is no compelling HD content available.

A lot depends on what E* actually plans to do with the sat. If they simply want to offer more foreign language programming and shopping channels then the VOOM customers are not worth buying. Remember, E* has a dying bird up there so the VOOM sat may simply be a cost effective replacement and little more.

 

[vurbano]

I understand what you mean, Stone Man, but again, I question even the existence of option (a).

As a VOOM customer, I expect to have 30+ HD channels. This is what we signed up for, and this is what we were promised. If E* were to purchase me as a customer and offer me 5-7 HD channels instead. I would not honor such transfer and would leave them immediately. Many would do the same thing. Even those with 6-month contract, as such contract would become void. So, why would E* even bother buying us from VOOM when they know most of us would not stay? The only scenario in which they can possibly buy and maintain VOOM customers, would be offering the same or equivalent service (i.e. 30+ HD channels), at least initially...

wake up for a sec. All Dish has to do is add the premiums and UniversalHD. That in itself would blow away every other option out there. They do not have to offer 37 HD channels. Frankly they would be insane to occupy valuable bandwith with 21 channels of borderline content. Voom has maybe enough decent content for maybe 5-7 channels IMO. The rest is an obsene waste and a major reason why they failed. That bandwidth would have been more effectively used to duplicate D* and E* offerings and actually have a chance at survival.

 

[Ilya]

All Dish has to do is add the premiums and UniversalHD.

This would still void any customer commitments. So what's the purpose of buying "free agents"?

 

[GreatMac]

source

Voom Sale Leaves Customers Cold

What's with these little blogs? Nobody thinks this headline is misleading?

They don't sound like they know anything that we don't, yet come up with this.... "Voom Sale Leaves Customers Cold" Kind of like asking Multichannel.com "When did you stop making up stories?"

 

[rtt2]

You know this may be the reason that VOOMkeeps signing up customers. It is anticipating selling them shortly and writing off the equipment and installation costs.

 

[gutter]

source

Voom Sale Leaves Customers Cold

The Carmel Group analyst Jimmy Schaeffler estimated Voom’s 26,000 customers could fetch $30 to $40 million in a sale, and said it’s still possible EchoStar could buy them.

About what I said originally about the value of the VOOM customer to Cablevision and to anyone who wants the list. However, time short as many here have or would jump ship if they don't know what the future brings. That new sub number in 10 days could theoretically add millions more in value.

rtt2...you may be right about the reason why VOOM is rushing installs now instead of shutting them off. Don't forget the two Charlies are good friends.

 

[GreatMac]

...Voom has maybe enough decent content for maybe 5-7 channels IMO. The rest is an obsene waste and a major reason why they failed. That bandwidth would have been more effectively used to duplicate D* and E* offerings and actually have a chance at survival.

Man, I don't know what you are watching, but I'd rather watch ANY of the Voom exclusives than much of the crap out there (like watching a fat guy fishing for an hour on the Outdoor Channel

 

[Stargazer]

I dont think Charlie would pay around $1,200 for a subscriber. Maybe a third to a fourth of that and that is no guarantee that they would actually switch over. Thats a pretty penny for a subscriber list of people. Many may have already had/currently have satellite service (Dish Net) anyways.

 

[kfried001]

wake up for a sec. All Dish has to do is add the premiums and UniversalHD. That in itself would blow away every other option out there. They do not have to offer 37 HD channels. Frankly they would be insane to occupy valuable bandwith with 21 channels of borderline content. Voom has maybe enough decent content for maybe 5-7 channels IMO. The rest is an obsene waste and a major reason why they failed. That bandwidth would have been more effectively used to duplicate D* and E* offerings and actually have a chance at survival.

I don't understand why you said all Dish has to do is offer the premiums and that would blow everything else out there away. My cable company offeres and nice HD PVR, Inhd1 and Inhd which are both great channels, all the locals in HD, Univeral HD, ESPN HD, Discover HD, HBO HD, Show HD, Starz HD and have just said they will be adding Cinemax HD. So as far as the premiums, the only ones I think they will be missing is TMC-HD and EncoreHD. I really Like Guy TV, Monsters, Kung FU and Family. Inhd1 & 2 have far better and full version musical concerts that Rave. Rush could have been good if they added more variety like Atv racing, Jet Ski Racing etc... If Voom goes under, I lost the cost of 4 receivers. I was always told they would not go under because they were part of Cablevision. Should never listen to a CSR.

So if Dish trys buying me they would have to add at a minimum, the premiums, monsters, kung fu, guy tv and family in addition.

 

[bryan27]

I don't see how E* can possibly buy customers from VOOM without buying the programming too. If the new company cannot continue offering the same services, customers are not going to honor such sale and any previous commitments would be void.

When D* bought Primestar they didn't buy the programming (in this case contracts) nor did they offer the same services.

There was a lesson to be learned in that sale. Although D* bought the customers it didn't garentee that the customers would be D* subscribers and for each one that went with E* instead of being converted to D* was money lost.

 

[Lobstah]

The value of the subscriber is based on a few things. Let's say there are 45K subs (latest number I've read).
Let's say they come up with an offer to current subs that says "Hey...we'll give you 6mos for free, we've added blahblahblah channels, give us a try!"
You've got 45K potential subs with equip installed, info already in the billing databases, etc. How many would stay? Half? %75% Who knows...cuz it would depend on what got added, if anything, but there is inherent value in current subscribers. That doesn't mean that someone will pay $40mil for us...but it's a business decision, like any other. If someone doesn't buy the list, they're taking the bet that a lot of us would swing their way anyway, and that the cost to get us set up would be less than the cost of xferring us. It's simple math that any business analyst/planner worth their salt is capable of doing.

Lob

 

[bbtkd]

All the speculation / false information and any one else wit a crystal ball or tarot cards does not know what is really going to happen. The only ones that really do have not said anything yet..

Hey - I DO have a crystal ball (brother makes them) but it's no help here...

 

[ddlsmith]

I don't understand why you said all Dish has to do is offer the premiums and that would blow everything else out there away. My cable company offeres and nice HD PVR, Inhd1 and Inhd which are both great channels, all the locals in HD, Univeral HD, ESPN HD, Discover HD, HBO HD, Show HD, Starz HD and have just said they will be adding Cinemax HD.

Ditto for me. When Voom goes black, my TWC cable has more HD than E* and D*combined (including locals) plus an HD DVR for $9.95/mo., no contractual obligation, 30 day money back guarantee, on demand programming, AND same day installation. Unless the picture is crappy, it's a no-brainer where I'm going. I will miss Monster, Rave, and Equator however. If they showed up elsewhere, I would strongly consider dumping cable and going back to wherever.

 

[Davey Roa]

if anything, I think the article points out how crappy Voom is treating us. They should least notify us of what are options are going to be. At minimum, they should make arrangements with Dish or Directv to transfer our service.