I've been away for a week and the world has ended?? I'm surprised there is no discussion about the Voluntary Administration situation.
Is the total demise of IceTV a foregone conclusion or is the subscription service still a viable business as it seems to have been for many years.
All indications are that Heinz has flown the coop after his grandiose hardware experiment seems to have brought the company to its knees. I hope this perception is wrong, but it is consistent with the behaviour of entrepreneurs and 'visionaries' when things go wrong.
Unfortunately, it looks like the harsh critics and sceptics questioning the integrity of the IceTV management may have been correct. I have been a long time supporter and defender of IceTV over many years, so I hope the naysayers are eventually proved wrong. At best it is yet another example of pathetic communication - at worst criminal deceit to keep promising product and taking money from customers.
Quote from: Paul55 on October 11, 2015, 10:46:13 AM
I've been away for a week and the world has ended?? I'm surprised there is no discussion about the Voluntary Administration situation. ...
You mean the discussion that isn't taking place in IceTv in Voluntary Administarion (http://forum.icetv.com.au/iceforum/general/44/icetv-in-voluntary-administarion/4638/)? ;)
Agreed, it is perhaps not in the place where you might expect to find it in the forum, but the discussion there isn't only about what will happen for those people who have paid for a SKIPPA and now appear not to be likely to get one.
There are also topics on the same subject in the IceTV area of the Beyonwiz Forum and in the Whirlpool forum's Home Theatre>PVR area.
Thanks Peter. Guess I should have had a better look.
Thanks for the link Peter. I wouldn't have looked in the Skippa area to address my concerns about the EPG continuing - though there is a pretty obvious connection between the Skippa folly and the threat to the company's existence.
Hmm, nearly brought one myself but wanted to pay more if it worked well. i have over 3 years of prepaid guide but I can live with that. Been with them since Window XP Media Center so very early days. I believe they were trading when they knew they had no way of continuing to provide goods and services. I wonder where the money went.
In the post I made in the link below there is a a copy of the text of an email I got today from the administrators. Its request subscribers to indicate if they would be potentially interested in taking up an monthly IceTV subscription. Apparently all current subscribers are being sent an email and a response is requested by noon tomorrow. The response will apparently be used to help in selling the IceTV service to new owners.
http://forum.icetv.com.au/iceforum/general/44/icetv-in-voluntary-administarion/4638/135
Ian
NEW owners?
Quote from: SkippaBeat on October 12, 2015, 05:27:03 PM
NEW owners?
It is possible I have got that wrong. The wording is ambiguous.
Ian
Quote from: IanL-S on October 12, 2015, 05:33:12 PM
Quote from: SkippaBeat on October 12, 2015, 05:27:03 PM
NEW owners?
It is possible I have got that wrong. The wording is ambiguous.
...
It says "We know that the service will need to be sold or licensed to another provider for it to remain operable", but it doesn't say whether there will be any overlap of the shareholders, the board or the management from the old to the new company.
Quote from: prl on October 12, 2015, 05:56:27 PM
but it doesn't say whether there will be any overlap of the shareholders, the board or the management from the old to the new company.
Let's not get too bound up in this area. After all, IceTV ran its subscription service very well for a long time to generally satisfied customers.
It may come down to a choice of whether or not this service continues to exist at all. Taking some form of vengeance because we are angry could be counter-productive to the outcome most of us want to see - the continuation of the EPG subscription service.
Quote from: Paul55 on October 12, 2015, 06:46:59 PM
Quote from: prl on October 12, 2015, 05:56:27 PM
but it doesn't say whether there will be any overlap of the shareholders, the board or the management from the old to the new company.
Let's not get too bound up in this area. After all, IceTV ran its subscription service very well for a long time to generally satisfied customers.
It may come down to a choice of whether or not this service continues to exist at all. Taking some form of vengeance because we are angry could be counter-productive to the outcome most of us want to see - the continuation of the EPG subscription service.
You may be attributing feelings to me that I don't really have, though I have seen a number of posts along the lines of "I'll never use the service if any of the old board/management is involved in the new company."
Quote from: prl on October 12, 2015, 07:18:29 PM
You may be attributing feelings to me that I don't really have, though I have seen a number of posts along the lines of "I'll never use the service if any of the old board/management is involved in the new company."
Bad quoting practice by me. I wasn't intending to imply you held that point of view.
Some other forums are getting carried away with the 'poor me' crew venting their spleens and working themselves into a frenzy with their narrow, self absorbed rants.
Keyboard mob behaviour at its most frustrating.
Quote from: Paul55 on October 12, 2015, 08:42:22 PM
...
Some other forums are getting carried away with the 'poor me' crew venting their spleens and working themselves into a frenzy with their narrow, self absorbed rants.
Keyboard mob behaviour at its most frustrating.
Yes, there seem to be far too many people (on various forums) who "know exactly what happened", even though the Administrator has been quoted as saying they don't know yet.
Quote from: Paul55 on October 12, 2015, 06:46:59 PM
Let's not get too bound up in this area. After all, IceTV ran its subscription service very well for a long time to generally satisfied customers.
It may come down to a choice of whether or not this service continues to exist at all. Taking some form of vengeance because we are angry could be counter-productive to the outcome most of us want to see - the continuation of the EPG subscription service.
+1
QuoteSome other forums are getting carried away with the 'poor me' crew venting their spleens and working themselves into a frenzy with their narrow, self absorbed rants.
Keyboard mob behaviour at its most frustrating.
As one of the speen venting forum members I can assure you I will not deal with a company that keeps breaking promises, that takes your money and either doesn't deliver at all or delivers a device with so many problems, mine rebooted twice last night after just changing channels, that won't get fixed and then goes into administration, sets up a new company and asks for more money with more promises. Fool me once shame on you but fool me twice....They are well past twice.
I want the EPG to continue and I want the support staff back but not at any cost. As to wanting vengeance shouldn't there be some penalty for losing staff entitlements and customers money? We don't know yet if staff were paid all their entitlements. I think I read they had 16 employees and I think the limit for redundancy is 15 so they may be entitled to that as well. Supposing, just supposing, they didn't. Could you still support them wiping that debt and re-starting pretty much the same business?
So there is a bit of poor me as I have a $400 brick sitting under my TV. Yeah it kind of works at the moment but, by the look of the guide, it will only sorta work until Sunday. I don't like spending that type of money on a brick.
It's also a bit of stupid me as the signs were there that this was a definite possibility and as each week passed it became more inevitable. Hindsight's a bitch. So i'm more annoyed at myself for being so close to pulling the plug in early September and not doing it.
But mostly it's just a sense of fair play. I can't support a company that wipes debt to both staff and customers and then wiggles back as the same company. So hopefully after the first creditors meeting we get more detail on what is owed to who and what, if any, the resurrection plans are. If the staff have been completely paid out and there is some plan to at least getting the Skippa working reasonably, and I don't care if they get rid of the Ad skip bit or a few other features to get it working consistently, I will probably change my mind. I wonder if none of this happened. If no entitlements are paid. Will you change yours or will your self absorbed wish for their EPG win the day.
Quote from: gas667 on October 16, 2015, 09:25:58 AM
I want the EPG to continue and I want the support staff back but not at any cost.............So there is a bit of poor me as I have a $400 brick sitting under my TV. Yeah it kind of works at the moment but, by the look of the guide, it will only sorta work until Sunday. I don't like spending that type of money on a brick.
The only realistic possibility of your Skippa ever working is if the EPG business gets re-started.
Quote
As to wanting vengeance shouldn't there be some penalty for losing staff entitlements and customers money? We don't know yet if staff were paid all their entitlements
As you say - we don't know. The staff should be the angry ones if they don't get their entitlements. The rest of us should offer whatever support we can to the excellent IceTV staff - that may well be supporting a new company that will maintain their employment in an area where they hold an unusual skill set.
I agree that IceTV management have screwed up badly and ended up throwing good money after bad. They obviously thought/hoped they could trade their way out of trouble - and maybe they would if UEC hadn't pulled the plug. Oddly, this leaves UEC with a warehouse full of bricks - hard to see any benefit there.
The whole Skippa project was terrible - from inception to demise. But, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
UPDATE: See IceTV Resurrected (http://forum.icetv.com.au/iceforum/general-discussions/1/icetv-resurrected/4654/)