spacetoday.net: Cablevision reconsiders Rainbow spinoff

Posted: Wed, Dec 22, 2004, 5:49 PM ET (2249 GMT)
Cablevision announced Tuesday that was canceling plans to spin off its satellite TV subsidiary, Rainbow Media Enterprises, a move some consider a sign Cablevision wants to sell or shut down the unit. Cablevision had planned to spin off Rainbow, which includes both a consumer TV service, called Voom, and three TV networks, into a separate company in the near future. Voom specializes in high-definition TV programming, but has far fewer customers than the two major satellite TV providers in the US, DirecTV and EchoStar. Analysts speculate that Cablevision's decision is a sign that it plans to either shut down the service or sell it, possibly to EchoStar. Rainbow currently owns one satellite, which may be of greater interest to EchoStar than Voom’s subscriber base. Rainbow also leases capacity on a second satellite and last month announced plans to purchase five satellites from Lockheed Martin, although financing for that deal had yet to be arranged.