VOOM Unleashes Packages, Equipment Specials

[Gregg Lengling]

A day after releasing subscriber numbers and other details, VOOM, the new kid on the satellite TV block, addressed some of the items going on with its months-old service.

Executive Vice President Bill Casamo said VOOM has paying customers: Customers who signed up for service before Feb. 19 get VOOM for free through April 1, while customers who purchased a system and were activated after that date are paying for service. A basic package of channels from VOOM is selling for $39.90, and it offers a slate of high-def channels that includes marquee content from Discovery, Bravo and others.

Premium channels are available for $14.90 on an a la carte basis. The top package, Va Va VOOM, includes the basic, HD and premium channels, and sells for $79.90

Casamo also highlighted deals for equipment. The company has waived a $250 fee for installation and an off-air antenna, taking the $749 price at purchase to $499, a deal available through May 31. In a separate offering, consumers can get equipment for a monthly fee of $9.50 after paying a $199 start-up fee. But the company is waiving the $199 fee through May 31.

Now that VOOM has key programming deals in place, such as the addition of HBO and Cinemax announced last week, expect stepped-up promotional and marketing efforts from the company, Casamo said. Those efforts began with advertising aired during the Academy Awards Sunday evening.

Earlier this week, Cablevision revealed that VOOM had 1,627 customers installed and receiving service as of the end of February. VOOM, from Cablevision and its Rainbow DBS unit, launched service on a trial basis in October.

[gparris]

Ok, Voom has almost every HD channel out there except the usual NBC, ABC,etc.
That is why they install an outdoor antenna with your dish to try to cover this issue. Great.  

What bothers me is they do not have my "favorites" like the Sci-Fi channel or USA Channel, but they DO have Bravo HD, also owned by the GE/Universal group as I understand it. :confused:

And of course, no ESPN-HD, either.

Further, if there are at least, what, 10 more HD channels out there like Starz!, The Movie Channel, Cinemax and their East/West variants, why haven't DishNetwork or Directv picked them up to compete against themselves or cable? :eek:

Cable is cable, love it or hate it...but they offer more HD channels right now...no Cinemax HD or ESPN-HD, but why hasn't the 2 major players in satellite, DishNetwork and Directv, added more?
It looks like all they have to wave around is ESPN-HD that cable currently does not have unless you have Comcast, which is not available here in Milwaukee/SE Wisconsin.

We're discussing HDTV offerings here!

:rolleyes:

Any ideas why?:guitar: