View Full Version : INDUSTRY WATCH - VOOM Ripe for Picking, Who Will Harvest the Fruit?
VOOM's colorful fruit is ripe for the picking. The question is, who will do the harvesting?
Seeing a growing, but underserved consumer demand for HD content, VOOM sought to capitalize on an emerging market. Voom's vision was clear, but was their timing good, or are they too far out ahead of the market bulge?
It appears to me that Voom is bleeding out and cannot survive much longer without huge infusions of cash. Investors have to be wondering if, at this point, they are throwing good money after bad. Recent changes in Voom's marketing strategy has certainly caught the attention of the industry and the public, particularly among the HD-watchers out there, but sustaining revenues are a long way off, not to mention profitability. But even as Voom is adding new subs at an accelerated rate, it will take take them at least 12 to 18 months to simply recoup the acquisition cost of each new sub, not to mention achieving financial stasis. In the meantime, the onerous cost of operations, programming, marketing and subscriber acquisition continues, making Voom weak and a prime target for acqusition.
The obvious questions are...
1. Who wants Voom?
2. Who needs Voom's HD channlets?
3. Who can afford Voom or can leverage a deal?
4. Who would benefit most from acquiring Voom?
5. When will it happen?
Obvious candidates are E*, D* and most of the larger cable providers, particularly media conglomerate Time-Warner.
Here are my guesses...
1. Who wants Voom? Everyone.
2. Who needs Voom's HD chanlets? Both D* and E* - desparately
3. Who can afford Voom and/or can leverage a deal? D* and E* - my money's on Charlie
4. Who would benefit most from acquiring Voom? E*, but now - only provider that has an HD-DVR shipping. D* when their HD-DVR ships.
5. When will it happen? Soon, expect the announcement in 3-12 months
Do I have a quad LNB antenna in my future? I certainly hope so! :p
Cyclone
03-15-04, 03:00 PM
They want the transponders and not the HD channels. I'd expect that whoever buys up Voom will immediately drop those 21 exclusive HD channels and will gobble up those Transponders.
Hopefully they will still keep all of the existing contracts for the existing HD premiums feeds. It will be great if INHD & INHD2 end up on Voom, only to be grandfathered onto D* or E*. hehe
They want the transponders and not the HD channels. I'd expect that whoever buys up Voom will immediately drop those 21 exclusive HD channels and will gobble up those Transponders.
Hopefully they will still keep all of the existing contracts for the existing HD premiums feeds. It will be great if INHD & INHD2 end up on Voom, only to be grandfathered onto D* or E*. hehe
That would be Sweeeeet!
A story at Newsday.com confirms what I predicted three days ago at the top of this thread. Voom is bleeding out and the body is being spruced up for a possible sale. Quotes indicate selected text from full Newsday article linked below.
Losses: "Without any subscriber revenue, Voom chalked up an operating loss of $55 million in the fourth quarter of last year. This year, Voom expects $399 million in investment costs and operating losses, according to Cablevision's annual financial filing."
Can't keep this up indefinitely!
Marketing: "Voom has stepped up advertising, including two spots in the Academy Awards show."
To attract new subscribers -- and get the attention of potential buyers
Revenues: "Voom...will begin charging its original customers a monthly subscriber fee April 1."
Too little, too late.
Spin-off: "Cablevision plans to file regulatory documents to spin off Voom... as a separate company with its own stock."
Much neater than a corporate-ectomy. An easier sell, and will improve Cablevision's bottom line.
What all this says to me is that Voom is soon going on the block. Who will the lucky buyer be? Stay tuned...
Full Story (www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzvoom183711479mar18,0,3024879.story?coll=ny-business-headlines)
With the addition of HD baseball, INHD is becoming more attractive. Since they are captives of the cable industry, is it a foregone conclusion that they will never be on D* or E*?
DCXFORDGM
04-05-04, 09:55 PM
As a bell global media stock holder, it may be awhile before any thing is written down but it is being discussed of bce purchasing voom from cablevision and this will give bce a foothold in the american dbs market. There expressvu platform is number one in canada and this would be a natural step. I would prefer a buy out of echostar which is on the same platform as vu. Bce is looking before year is over to move into american market in more dsl offerings with its sympatico brand or a exsiting dsl carriers and talks are in progress on the dbs subject.
Their is always the possibility of someone like Verizon or Bellsouth purchasing Voom. I like the idea of Verizon the best, just think of what they can offer all on one bill:
Local Phone Service
High Speed Internet
Long Distance
Cellular
TV.
Another benefit to this this is that the pressure for locals is limited to get LIL going to just the Verizon local market in the beginning.
If you really want to have fun with it, have Verizon merge with Bell South and then you have a huge chunk of the east coast of the USA have a provider that can offer an absolutely complete communications package.
I like the idea of it as it makes sense on many levels.
Verizon/BS have a reliable technician group that can be trained on installing satellite with relative ease.
They can offer continued discounts for bundling.
They have a huge group of customers who can be sold on the added services.
Personally, i'd drop about 1/2 of the HD channels and put on more standard definition channels and get local retransmission agreements going for the top 10 east coast cities. A retransmit agreement with XM would also help a great deal as well.
I'm not a power broker and i don't know the details of everything. I just know that on the face of it, an acquisition by either Verizon or BS would allow for the holy grail of complete communications integration and it could happen very easily.
BobMurdoch
04-07-04, 05:43 PM
I'm still pulling for an E* sale. D* will provide a counterbalance so the antitrust guys shouldn't fight it, and it would put them on a better footing in competing with D* if they could add a LOT of HD channels....
"Personally, i'd drop about 1/2 of the HD channels and put on more standard definition channels..."Now that would definitely be a GIANT leap backward! Get real - Voom's whole premise is HD. What are you thinking? :confused:
stonecold
04-08-04, 10:02 AM
My money still is on Charlie buying out Voom. only satellite transponders for voom I see are on 61.5 with Echostar owning the rest on 61.5 Yeah supposely they own a another slot but no physical sat up there yet for voom. I dont see D going after transponders on 61.5 Whats the point. As one of E* wing satellites I see it as a something that might either settle or add more confusion to exsisting HDTV issue with where hdtv willl be.
I really see Charlie annoucing the buy out. He has the money and if the ftc gets into BS again about competition I will strangle everyone at the ftc. Federal Trade commission can go kiss my ################### (self censored) I never understood the whole monopoly no competition BS, I mean the ftc see Satellite tv in its own category when erally they should be seeing them and cable companies as Payed tv services. Only reason why E* does not own D* right now is because of the cable cos lobbiest tossing around millions of dollars to stop the merger.
Why
The combine company would make them the largest payed tv service in the states. Beating out the current largest Comcast which currently has 21 million. Basicly the new merge company would steam roll cable I would really would be wonderfull. It gotten to the point where people in my own town are disgusted with comcast and how rude they are essepically if you there High Speed Internet and Satellite. They try and blame everything on the satellite and your lucky if you get any support at all from them. But again according to a local news paper the local comcast ( Comcast of South West florida) they have lost about 15 % of there market to satellite in just past fiscal year. it is too the point of who wants to pay 90 dollars not including taxes ( 1 digital box Mid range package equivant to at 120) when you can go with dish or DTV and get the same channels for approx 55 after taxes . ( 2 recivers both owned not leased)
Expect to see Voom on E* or at least the startings of the buy out by the end of the year.
BobMurdoch
04-08-04, 10:19 AM
They don't have the capability of being a primary satellite provider, so they are right to focus on being a secondary provider (it's USSB all over again)
stonecold
04-08-04, 10:23 AM
Ever wonder when they are going to start crying for my transponders HDTV is very demanding and they dont even own a whole satellite locaton
mattyro
04-17-04, 09:28 AM
******************************PELUSO wrote-""Personally, i'd drop about 1/2 of the HD channels and put on more standard definition channels and get local retransmission agreements going for the top 10 east coast cities. A retransmit agreement with XM would also help a great deal as well.""************
R E P LY BY M A T T Y R O>>>>>>>>***>>>>>>--just what we need a 3rd US company SHOWING THE SAME CRAPPY CHANNELS AND WASTING BANDWIDTH.HOW MANY FRELLING WAYS DO WE NEED TO WATCH THE FRELLING SPIKE CHANNEL??!!!! Maybe if they offered a superior procduct equal to the 1st years of DBS--that might turn some heads. From what I understand, the dbs picture in its infancy was truly "dvd-like".<<<<<<<<<<<
Rang1995
04-18-04, 06:38 PM
"My money still is on Charlie buying out Voom. only satellite transponders for voom I see are on 61.5 with Echostar owning the rest on 61.5 Yeah supposely they own a another slot but no physical sat up there yet for voom. I dont see D going after transponders on 61.5 Whats the point. As one of E* wing satellites I see it as a something that might either settle or add more confusion to exsisting HDTV issue with where hdtv willl be."
Wrong--they have their own bird + 2 transponders from the E* bird + they will go to Mpeg-4 and may have more sats one day....
VOOM's colorful fruit is ripe for the picking. The question is, who will do the harvesting?
Maybe Voom will buy Dish Network...the quality of service at Voom is much better. Plus they could drop all those crappy SD channels.
Now that would definitely be a GIANT leap backward! Get real - Voom's whole premise is HD. What are you thinking? :confused:
I'm thinking that 1/2 the HD channels are sub par. If they got rid of ten of them, then they could ad between 40 and 80 more standard def channels and that would make them a much much more viable competator to Direct & Dish
******************************PELUSO wrote-""Personally, i'd drop about 1/2 of the HD channels and put on more standard definition channels and get local retransmission agreements going for the top 10 east coast cities. A retransmit agreement with XM would also help a great deal as well.""************
R E P LY BY M A T T Y R O>>>>>>>>***>>>>>>--just what we need a 3rd US company SHOWING THE SAME CRAPPY CHANNELS AND WASTING BANDWIDTH.HOW MANY FRELLING WAYS DO WE NEED TO WATCH THE FRELLING SPIKE CHANNEL??!!!! Maybe if they offered a superior procduct equal to the 1st years of DBS--that might turn some heads. From what I understand, the dbs picture in its infancy was truly "dvd-like".<<<<<<<<<<<
Because competition with the the other two biggies out there will help drive overall prices down... As long as they hit 80 to 90% of what people want to watch, they will grow, and when they do it will force Direct and Dish to have better product. It's good for everyone.
jpoklop
04-19-04, 03:39 PM
Here are my guesses...
4. Who would benefit most from acquiring Voom? E*, but now - only provider that has an HD-DVR shipping. D* when their HD-DVR ships.
Do you know where I can get a working 921? I agree with your assessment that E* is a more likely suitor than D* (because they already have the 61.5 bird) but Charlie has shown no real interest in HD for a while.
BobMurdoch
04-19-04, 04:43 PM
D* would require a major antenna/switch swapout as they aren't looking at that slot right now. E* already has transponders at that slot and would be much easier to annex those V* transponders.
I don't know about any other incompatibility concerns, but the easist on the face of things is for an E* buyout (as I don't see people clamoring to buy V* to run as a standalone company)
calikarim
04-28-04, 06:07 AM
HD Tv is in its infancy. Only 6 million homes have hd sets, many without tuners- they are hd ready. By the next three years 40 million homes will have hdsets. Voom could be like Microsoft in its infancy, how it took on IBM and the other juggernauts. Voom is growning fast, and the market is it its infancy. With only 25% market share that is 10 milllion homes by 2007 that is a fantastic growth preposition. Cablevision has the pockets to ride it out. Just think how many billions they can make. With over 100 HD channels in the next two years, a HD DVR that offers network capabilities, internet broadband in HD, the sky is the limit. I don't think Voom will be sold, this is a gold mine.. Watch[/COLOR]
d
Rather than a purchase of V* by D* or E*, I think a strong "partnership" could benefit both parties immensely. If a single box could be developed to decode both V* and [D* or E*], it would allow V* to concentrate on HD programming, while allowing the other to concentrate on LIL and other issues. Customers would benefit from expanded HD. A carefully and fairly crafted contract could benefit both V* and the other, and could help get around some of the two-dish legislative problems, if both are technically separate companies. I am sure the techies on these forums could describe all the current incompatibilities between the systems, but from a business sense, is this viable?
:confused:
BobMurdoch
04-28-04, 02:53 PM
It won't happen. E* wouldn't subsidize a competitor, when they would much rather watch them implode and buy the carcass at a huge discount.
And V* wouldn't make it easy for people to bypass THEIR delivery system and sell the only leverage they have to a competitor.
Unfortunately, I don't see any alliance happening unless a big check is involved at a sale....
I'm thinking that 1/2 the HD channels are sub par. If they got rid of ten of them, then they could ad between 40 and 80 more standard def channels and that would make them a much much more viable competator (competitor) to Direct & DishHuh? :confused:
Peluso, somewhere along the way, you sem to have lost sight of Voom's only market advantage - providing substantially more HD content than other DBS providers. To drop HD channels in favor of SD would not make them a "viable" competitor in the multi-channel marketplace, it would place Voom a distant third in a three-horse race.
Voom's ace is more HD channels and content than the other guys. Now that I have my widescreen TV it's all about more and more HD content as far as I'm concerned. E*'s 5⅓ HD channels were my entré into high definition television, but from the beginning it was never enough.
If V* had initially launched as just another DBS SD provider we wouldn't be here talking about it. If all you want is more of the same, stay where you are. As for me, I'm going for the GOLD.
Voom, here I come! I need third dish on my pole. Let the good times roll and the neighbors be envious! :grin:
Humma humma humma! :icon_da: :welcome: :icon_bb: :dance01:
ypsiguy
05-11-04, 05:58 PM
D* would require a major antenna/switch swapout as they aren't looking at that slot right now. E* already has transponders at that slot and would be much easier to annex those V* transponders.
I don't know about any other incompatibility concerns, but the easist on the face of things is for an E* buyout (as I don't see people clamoring to buy V* to run as a standalone company)
One other incompatibility is that V* uses Digicipher 2, Dish is Nagravision. Would be interesting to see which one would win. I'd bet on Voomers having to switch to a Dish 811/921 receiver. Motorola Digicipher is an expensive system.
ibooksrule
05-14-04, 12:17 AM
what is the deal you guys always cmplaning about how E* channels are poor i have a 50" hitachi HDTV and i dont have any HD channels yet becasue i dont have another 1000 to spend on a HD dvr. i wish theyd lease them like they do there other dvrs. DIshes SD channels look just fine some better then others i also have sky angel and i mean considering they arnt trying to braodcast for picture quality and it looks good i have some shows that are better then others locals are not all the greatest but gosh they arnt horrible like everyone says i wish people would appreacite that we have satellite and are not subject to cable or big dish satellite appreacite what yo have insted of complaning
ibooksrule
05-14-04, 12:29 AM
oh by the way on your comment on microsoft the only reason they are so big is 1 they were just really lucky if the guy IBM had gone with who they orignaly were going to there would be no microsoft. or if seattle computer company had not sold them DOS there would be no microsoft or the biggest one that made them propel to the big time is this. if apple (mainly steve jobs) had not given microsoft a mac to supposdly make a spreadsheet for that they hacked and stole the OS and eventilly made it good enough to sell after years and years and they still are not great but they are the biggest because they make everyone sell there OS bill gates tells HP and DELL and others that if they want to make thier computer to be able to accept windows it has to ship with windows on it and can not ship with linux or macintosh or any other OS. voom has a good idea its just there are not alot of HD sets in houses yet and some people even though they have a HD set its only because they wanted a big screen and not nessecerly because they wanted a hd set and they are just happy with what they get even if you show them HD is better they just dont want it for now i have lots of people saying they could care less and lots of those hd sets are connected to cable becase people believe the satellite lie about they cant have it or it fades out all the time or whatever else cable companys lie about to get people away from satellite
One other incompatibility is that V* uses Digicipher 2, Dish is Nagravision. Would be interesting to see which one would win. I'd bet on Voomers having to switch to a Dish 811/921 receiver. Motorola Digicipher is an expensive system.
Voom is MPEGII with NDS encryption. Only 4DTV/Star Choice/InDemand are DCII
ypsiguy
05-14-04, 05:07 PM
Voom is MPEGII with NDS encryption. Only 4DTV/Star Choice/InDemand are DCII
Funny, www.lyngsat.com lists VOOM as 8PSK Digicipher 2. Is lyngsat incorrect? The VOOM box looks exactly like Star Choice's HD box as well.
I asked these questions six months ago. I think the questions are still relevant, but have the answers changed?
1. Who wants Voom?
2. Who needs Voom's HD channlets?
3. Who can afford Voom or can leverage a deal?
4. Who would benefit most from acquiring Voom?
5. When will it happen?
Obvious candidates are E*, D* and most of the larger cable providers, particularly media conglomerate Time-Warner.
Here are my answers (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=25147) from March 15.
Mike123abc
09-23-04, 08:13 AM
I think it is more likely now that NEITHER Dish nor DIRECTV want VOOM. The only thing of real value is the satellite which they would probably bid on for a backup of their existing satellites. The 11 TP frequencies would be a nice addition for Dish, but by the time the FCC would get arround to approving the sale time would be past.
I see perhaps a small bidding war on the satellite itself since it does have a lot of nice features. Echostar bids on the 11TPs without any real competition from DIRECTV since DIRECTV already has Ka satellites bought and a new satellite location with 11 TPs is not really worth the effort. Dish of course would probably be the only bidder on an FCC auction of the 2 remaining 61.5 TPs.
The VOOM customers are not wanted by either carrier. They know there is no need to buy 30,000 customers, since they have no choice to pick either D or E afterwards. They will be happy to let them pick one of the two and install them as a new customer.
FarNorth
09-23-04, 11:26 AM
I wonder how many of the 30,000 are Dish or Direct customers already?
Richard King
09-23-04, 11:52 AM
Echostar is in the process of floating a 1Billion dollar bond issue to be used for "general corporate purposes". You just never know what "general corporate purposes" might be.
Mike D-CO5
09-23-04, 07:14 PM
" general corporate purposes" = Buying Voom satellite for all of Dish's hd needs.
larrystotler
09-23-04, 10:00 PM
It would make absolutely no sense for E* to buy V*. They have too few subs, their equipment is junk, and sat location is something that E* is probably trying to move from, not to. I just don't see the point. Besides, Charlie is cheap. He just wouldn't pay that much for it, unless it was a real steal.
hdtvfan0001
09-24-04, 06:09 AM
It would make absolutely no sense for E* to buy V*. They have too few subs, their equipment is junk, and sat location is something that E* is probably trying to move from, not to.
So what you're saying is no one will buy rotten fruit. :D
Richard King
09-24-04, 06:46 AM
They have too few subs, their equipment is junk,The time to buy them is before they have to replace too many boxes. No better time than the present if they are going to do anything at all. Swap out the "junk" for 811's and have the bandwidth and programming contracts to provide a bunch more HDTV to those who want it. It could provide a quick entry into more HD until they have bandwidth available in a more central location.
Mike123abc
09-24-04, 08:12 AM
Dish has no need for "VOOM's bandwidth". When 105 goes up they will have about the same space on 105 as VOOM has on 61.5 (assuming they keep the locals they have now). The entire country can see 105. When E10 goes up they will be able to move the left over locals off of 61.5. They already pretty much have all the internationals on 121.
The only thing 61.5 is going to be useful for possibly by dish is if they wanted to do LIL HDTV for some large east coast cities from there.
As soon as 105 goes up (if they ever fix that rocket!) Dish will have about 8 TPs free up on 105, equivalent to 12 TPs on 61.5. Plus Dish already has 4 TPs on 110 for HDTV. That would be 16 TPs for HD, VOOM only has 13 (2 on loan). Plus Dish does not have to put standard def on the 16 since they are already on one of Dish's other 151 or so other transponders (not counting 157 since they really do not have a satellite there doing anything).
Dish does not have a capacity problem and a dire need for the 11 VOOM (plus 2 unassigned) transponders. Dish simply has other priorities at the moment other than HDTV.
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