Voom's not all Gloom & Doom

[DarrellP]

From HDTV Magazine:

HDTVMagazine



Monday, October 11, 2004




Dear Readers:

Thank you for your supportive letters/Emails for HDTV Magazine which you have directed to the Commissioners of the FCC. I will advise you of any action taken by the FCC on our behalf.


***


We welcome our new sponsor--VOOM--to the HDTV Magazine web site today. When you seek to grow your HDTV viewing experience we suggest that you to consider VOOM.


Industry Outlook for VOOM?
In a research note released Friday, Tom Eagan of Oppenheimer and Co. said the Cablevision stock continues to be weighed down due to expectations of cash flow losses generated by the company's VOOM satellite operations. But that doesn't mean there isn't an opportunity with the satellite TV assets, the analyst said.

Eagan reiterated the Wall Street view that VOOM will have a difficult time growing subscribers due to heightened competition, especially from DirecTV. "However, we estimate that VOOM, at worst, has zero - but not negative - value due to the highly likely possibility of selling the satellite to another satellite player such as EchoStar, should significant VOOM subscriber growth not materialize," he said.

EchoStar may need to increase its transmission capacity in order to compete with DirecTV and cable operators that are delivering more high-def broadcast and national networks, Eagan said. "The VOOM satellite is not only up and running, but is also situated at 61.5 degrees, a slot from which EchoStar already transmits programming," the Oppenheimer analyst said.

Nonetheless, if VOOM succeeds, it's worth more than its replacement value, Eagan said.

If VOOM grows to more than 200,000 subscribers in the next 15 months, Eagan put the satellite TV service's valuation per subscriber in the $1,000 to $1,200 range. That's below the $1,550 average subscriber valuation for DirecTV and EchoStar, but it translates to an overall valuation for the VOOM service at between $300 million and $600 million.

VOOM is part of the upcoming Rainbow Media Enterprise spin out from Cablevision.

 

[Dvlos]

You know what IS Doom and Gloom, premium cable services lately. Hbo is now officially the Xmen2 channel, and Starz is now the EDTV network, EncoreHD is now the 4:3 upconvert Extraveganza Channel. TMC-HD is worse then Voom cinema 10, A) because you pay for it in one of the packages, B) because they play movies on Voom Cinema 10 at times!!! C) Their PQ is sucking lately.

My wife is actually trying to get me to turn them off, when we first got it we were watching all kinds of movies, but lately it's the same stuff over and over again. I'm also freaking disgusted with Starz.. they air Brother bear and it's not even an EDTV transfer it's 4:3 OAR! Encore is another, why can't they find a widescreen copy of SCream? Why do they still list ALL their movies as HD?!?

I'm just waiting on Voom to fully upgrade their channels, right now they are airing westerns all over the place, as well as crime dramas. I like Docs channel, even though many are 4:3 it's a channel dedicated to a genre and airs some very thought provoking shows. While Voom airs lots of B-movie stuff, I ask myself how can they have a channel like Monsters HD, Rush, Rave, Equator, and Cinema10, continously pumping out more content for free than HBO-Encore for $$$???

I would love to see what Rainbow Media could do if VOom had lots of subscribers, also I'm hoping that because fall is more Prime Time viewing $$$ for networks, that the premium channels slow down, and in the winter/summer is when they get good. If that's the case I'm going to cancel them in 6 month cycles.

 

[barth2k]

good to know the wall st. people know something we all do lol.

 

[vinnyv07]

I think that its only a matter of time that Dish buys out VOOM for the sats. It makes so much sense...being at 61 its a match made in heaven. If it happens I'll miss VOOM though.