What does VOOM need to do?

[Ken_F]

What specific changes does VOOM need to make to get your business?

Please try to be reasonable. Capacity limitations prevent VOOM from adding locals or dozens of additional SD channels; legal contraints prevent them from adding national HD feeds; and carriage agreements prevent them from offering some channels separately.

In my case:

1. I require SciFi, plus the major news channels - CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News. (I notice they are up to 34 cable favorites as of 10/16)
2. I require ESPN-HD, InHD/InHD2, Hdnet/Hdnet Movies, and when available, Starz HD and Cinemax HD.
3. I require a HDTV STB rental, HDTV PVR, or an announced STB->PVR trade-in program. I refuse to spend another $700+ on a box without any means to timeshift HDTV, or any direct upgrade path that will make that possible. The upgrade path need not be free, a reasonable credit (i.e. $500) toward the PVR will suffice. If there is no Firewire, PVR, or upgrade path, I need a STB rental until such time when those options are available.
4. I require a stable HD STB / PVR. Crashes every few minutes--as seen at Sears--are not acceptable.
5. I require SD quality as good as I get on Comcast Cable (at least, for CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews, SciFi, and the History Channel), which means slightly better quality than currently on Dish/DirecTV.

 

[YuriLuzr]

1. I would like to see an HD only package at a low monthly cost, like below $35.
2. I would like to see a low entry cost. $750 is too much for just getting a STB and installation. Say $200.
3. Get the standard HD fare, ESPN-HD, Disc-HD, InHD 1 & 2, HDNet packages.
4. If they had some sort of DVR would help.

As Scott said in another post, they should seek out some customers by providing HD only packages. At this point I'm not willing to drop my existing company and jump onto VoOm. But if they did the things I mentioned I would seriously consider adding them for the HD.

 

[Sean Mota]

Your points are all very good. First, they need to get the installation of these receivers right. The receivers I saw at the press conference did not seem to suffer from these "locks" although they might. People will not buy into the system if it does not perform at least 50% at the demo store.

I think they shot themselves on the foot by selecting Sears as the retailer store. At least if you going to do it, give the Sears employees some training. If they do not resolve their problems with the installation and the receiver, I do not see anybody signing for it. People will very dissapointed if everytime they change channel, the satellite starts looking the signal.

 

[Stargazer]

Voom needs to do the following to be competitive and to gain more subscribers.....

> Offer a Lease Option

> Offer the top 100 or so SD channels at a competitive rate to cable and satellite to attract buyers to get the service that would, in return, get more HD package sales in which Voom could make their money on. They could offer the SD packages for a rate at cost if they could make some good money on the HD packages . They could make it a requirement to have an HD package purchase to get the special rate on the SD package(s).

> Lower the Hardware Cost

> Give Promotions To Customers (free install, system discounts, etc with a contract of 1, 2, or 3 years). They need to subsidize customers that are willing to stay with the service for an extended period of time.

 

[Stacy A]

I think they might stand a chance if they not only focus on the HD content but separate themselves from the pack by marketing and emphasizing "enhanced definition" channels or "no compression artifacts." If they tout themselves as offering the clearest, least compressed picture available for not only HD, but for SD as well, then people that have been griping about Dish and Direct compression artifacts or lousy Picture Quality may just jump ship.

Stacy

 

[wcswett]

I think Voom needs to have the following to get my business:

1) Concentrate on HD service. They don't have enough bandwidth to be a serious replacement for DISH or DTV. Pick a few critical SD channels (CNN, ESPN, FOX NEWS, SCI-FI, Biography, Comedy, etc.) and give them full HD bandwidth pending launch of eventual HD service. Play up services like INHD or create new HD content which is not available on DISH or DTV.

2) Lower the cost of entry, either through leasing or commitment discounts. Break the entry package up and drop the price for self-install and no off-air antenna options. (Why would I want to pay for these when the nearest analog station is 75 miles away and I already have a 61.5W DBS antenna?)

3) Get a PVR ASAP or provide a trade-in policy for the current hardware.

--- WCS

 

[new_hd_fan]

InHD and HDNet Will Not Be Together for a Long Time

2. I require ESPN-HD, InHD/InHD2, Hdnet/Hdnet Movies, and when available, Starz HD and Cinemax HD.

It will be a while before InHD and HDNet are together on the same sytem for the following reasons:

1. InHD and HDNet are pretty much the same kinds of networks. Not having seen either of them myself, it is my understanding that they both have some recycled HD content plus some original second tier sports in HD. Therefore they compete directly for the same viewers.
2. Comcast (which owns Voom) is also a major investor in InHD.
3. It is not in Comcast's interest to draw viewers away from InHD by having HDNet on their Voom system.
4. Neither is it in Comcast's interest in making other DBS systems more attractive than Voom, so it is unlikely that InHD will appear on Dish or DirectTV.[/list]
   Therefore, until Comcast does not have a financial interest in both Voom and InHD, you will not likely see them together.

 

[rtt2]

Actually Cablevision owns Voom

 

[Stargazer]

I think if they would get some enhanced definition channels in addition to the HD channels it would help their channel lineup quite a bit, just as it would with Dish Network and DirecTv.

 

[rang1995]

HDTV HDTV HDTV HDTV...we can all get the others one way or another..This was advertized as HDTV so do it!!!!