Voom

Voom was a direct broadcast satellite television provider serving the United States. It was a competitor to the established DirecTV and Dish Network systems. Voom was operated by Rainbow DBS Company, a subsidiary of Cablevision. In 2004, the organization promoted itself by advertising that it had more high-definition television channels available than its competitors.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Service was broadcast via the Rainbow-1 communications satellite, which was built by Lockheed Martin and launched on July 17, 2003. The satellite carries video streamed in both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video formats. The satellite's low position in the sky often made the service more difficult to receive than those of its competitors.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In early 2005, Voom's parent company Cablevision announced it would seek "strategic alternatives" for Rainbow Media Enterprises, the business unit that contains its Voom satellite service, leaving the future of Voom questionable. After a bitter dispute in the boardroom, Charles Dolan (the founder of Cablevision) ousted 3 boardroom members who pushed for the extinction of Voom.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dolan had until March 31st to arrange for Voom's assets to be purchased. When that deadline passed, Cablevision's board proceeded to shut Voom down. The service was shut off on April 30, 2005. The day before, Dish Network announced that 10 of Voom's original channels will be on Dish starting May 1, and it will carry all of those channels by next year.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

See also: list of direct broadcast satellite providers

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Satellite television: Satellite television is television delivered by way of communications satellites in geostationary orbit 37,000 km (22,300 miles) above the earth?s equator. The first satellite television signal was relayed from Europe to the Telstar satellite over North America in 1962. The first domesti...

United States: :For other uses, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation)....

DirecTV: DirecTV is a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service that broadcasts digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States and the rest of the Americas. DirecTV is owned by DirecTV Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation?s Fox Entertainment Group....