Audio Video News

More than 35 million Americans will use voice-enabled virtual assistant speakers such as the popular Amazon Echo speaker at least once a month this year, more than twice as much as they did last year, according to a new market forecast from eMarketer.

As Michael Fremer discussed in his <A href="http://ultimateavmag.com/michaelfremer/205mf/">February 2005 column</A>, Cablevision recently agreed to sell the primary assets of its Voom HD satellite service&mdash;including the satellite itself and FCC licenses to operate DBS services on 11 frequencies from the satellite's orbital location as well as ground facilities in South Dakota&mdash;to EchoStar, the company behind competitor Dish Network, for $200 million in cash. Apparently, Cablevision founder and chairman Charles Dolan opposed the sale, while his son James, CEO of the company, supported it. The elder Dolan and another son, Tom, then signed a letter of intent to purchase the remaining Voom assets from Cablevision.

Earlier this week, it looked like the Voom HD satellite service was dead, but it now seems that reports of its demise were at least slightly exaggerated. On <A href="http://www.ultimateavmag.com/news/030105voom/">Tuesday</A>, we reported that Cablevision, Voom's parent company, decided to pull the plug after founder Charles Dolan failed to meet a February 28 deadline for purchasing Voom's remaining assets. (The Voom satellite and FCC licenses to operate at its orbital location are being purchased by rival EchoStar, subject to regulatory approval.)