Voom HD has finally met its demise here in the United States, as Cablevision removed the Voom HD channels from its lineup on January 20th. The move follows Dish Network, which dropped all 15 of the Voom HD channels over two days in May of 2007. Will the removal of VOOM HD cause Cablevision customers to move to satellite TV providers Dish Network and DIRECTV? Possibly, as message boards have been buzzing with anger at Cablevision’s decision, similar to the outcry at Dish Network.
Cablevision customers are feeling the same pain that many Dish Network Voom HD customers felt at that time. While many of the VOOM HD channels were repetitive, they did offer unique content, all in HD and commercial free in many cases. Fan favorites such as Kung Fu HD, Monsters HD, and Animania HD look to be replaced by several premium movie channel networks.
According to EngagetHD, Cablevision will replace the slots freed up by dropping VOOM HD with networks such as Encore HD, HBO2 HD, and Action Max HD. Of course none of these channels and the others to be added are basic cable type HD networks, thus for Cablevision customers it will require subscribing to the premium movie tiers that carry these channels.
Voom HD is owned and run by Rainbow Media, which in turn is a subsidiary of Cablevision. Rainbow Media executives laid blame for the removal at the foot of Dish Network. The satellite TV provider removed the 15 Voom HD channels from its service, claiming a contractual breach by Rainbow Media. Dish Network claimed Voom HD was not spending enough money on new content. Voom HD fired back via a $1 billion dollar lawsuit, which is still tied up in court.
The move will lead to the domestic operations of Voom being shut down. Voom HD still has a healthy international base, with more than 30 million subscribers worldwide. Some subscribers had held out hope that DIRECTV or another major pay television company would pick up VOOM HD, but no new deals have materialized. That leaves little hope for Dish Network and Cablevision Voom HD customers, as it now looks like Voom HD is gone forever in the United States.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
This was the first time I am listening to the different networks that had a unique content. Today many networks and channels came into existence competing them among..
this is great. cablevision told me instead of the voom channels we can get MORE HBO channels! Yeah! (insert sarcasm here). can’t wait to see top gun for the millionth time.
A friend of mine used to have Voom. That time I used to see him very often, cause I liked it very much.. Hope Voom’s back..
That’s a shame. Bye bye Voom!
I remember when Dish Network launched Voom with a seperate satallite on my roof. Those days are gone and now DirectV owns HD.
Thats true one day Cablevision will definitely replace the slots freed up by dropping Voom HD.
Thanks for the interesting post.
It suprises me that good content that is not just water down crap like most TV is being tossed off Cablevision. They used to have the best content in the Long Island area, now they have nothing special and charge way too much.
TV companies seem to think chasing advertising revenue combined with cheap programming is a smart move. It’s not when most of your subscribers/viewers start cancelling.
Cablevision never disappoints me with more reasons to hate them. I unfortunately am not able to get anything else, so i’m stuck with them. But losing RaveHD and a few random other ones from Voom makes me want to move somewhere where people are like “Cablevision who?”. Get your crap together CV and while your at it lose those idiotic commercials.
I have family cable, aside from cnn, tcm, not one station is of any interest! I don’t need hockey 1,2,3,4,5, and so
on! Not interested in Hbo! Besides, I lost terrific high
def programming that is being replaced with unwanted
channels that I have to pay for! Shame on cablevision!
Thinking of dropping it all together!!!
I’ve had it with Dish. Direct TV is now a better choice – and cheaper. First they dropped VOOM, then the Smithsonian channel – they can’t seem to make a deal with my local ABC outlet which meant I couldn’t watch the Rose Bowl nor the Academy Awards. So long Dish!
I have been disgusted with cablevision since they dropped voom. That was the best thing cv had to offer. When I questioned them about the change, they claimed voom dropped them, but they would fill in the slots. Cablevision stinks!!! They are filling all their channels with reality shows, and they are horrible, not worth watching. Am considering dropping cv