Logo

Rainbow Media, EchoStar Rescue Voom

Apr 29, 2005  •  Post A Comment

Voom lives. Rainbow Media Holdings on Friday announced that it will operate and market Voom 21 HD Originals and that EchoStar Communications has agreed to carry the high-definition programming service.

The Voom channels originally were offered on Cablevision Systems’ money-losing Voom satellite service. Voom’s satellites were sold to EchoStar earlier this year.

Voom now will be offered as a programming service instead of a satellite service, said Joshua Sapan, president and CEO of Rainbow. Subscribers to the defunct Voom satellite service will have to sign up for EchoStar to see the channels.

“I think EchoStar has a pointed interest in doing something aggressive with HD,” Mr. Sapan said. “I think they want to be leaders in video and defined leaders in HD.”

EchoStar will carry 10 of Voom’s HD chanels immediately and will offer all 21 by 2006, when new compression technology is employed. Rainbow’s parent Cablevision presently does not carry the Voom channels.