Vongo dies, very few notice

by Nilay Patel posted Aug 12th 2008 at 1:02PM

Vongo gave it a solid go there for a while, but a supported device list that totaled seven (and was missing a certain white whale) combined with lukewarm support and lackluster marketing always spelled doom for the scrappy video-on-demand service, and it looks like Starz has gone ahead and pulled the plug. If you're one of the, uh, dozens who were paying the $10/mo fee, you can still use the service until September 30th, but after that there'll be nothing left -- literally, since all your Vongo content will be deleted. Yeah, that's fun way to make customers check out the new, seemingly-identical Starz Play service. Anyone still intrigued by this kind of subscription video model? We're pretty over it.

Filed under: Internet

Tags: starz, starz play, StarzPlay, vongo

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

David S @ Aug 12th 2008 1:40PM

Vongo isn't a good example of the faults of a subscription service. What it should do is warn consumers is about joining subscription service that haven't hit critical mass yet. Netflix seems to be making subscription video working. Pay per download services like Vudu are also in trouble.

Neutral

RockinOscar @ Aug 12th 2008 3:45PM

*yawn* was Vongo even HD?

Neutral

UnnDunn @ Aug 12th 2008 5:09PM

Vongo was a good idea, and I subscribed to it for a few months. I do believe they were the first with an all-you-can-eat digital movie subscription service, and they had a PPV option for newer movies.

Unfortunately, they had the same catalog Starz had... which was not very big at all. maybe a couple hundred movies at any one time, and movies were appearing and disappearing seemingly at random, as Starz gained and lost the rights to them.

Movies weren't in HD, but they were close to DVD quality, and were in 5.1 audio to boot. And their Windows Media Center client was quite good.

Meh, can't really blame Vongo... they gave it an honest effort. But the movie studios are really determined to cling to their outdated business models, and until they give up that thinking, we'll never get the kinds of online movie services we truly want.

Having said that, digital downloads are still the future of home entertainment... the movie studios are just going to have to be dragged kicking and screaming into that future, just like the record labels were.

Neutral

Graham @ Aug 13th 2008 7:40AM

What a relief. This means that I wont have to spend twenty minutes trying to remove it from every new computer I buy and it trying to come back.

Neutral

Matt @ Aug 13th 2008 10:32PM

I never tried of vongo mostly because it was installed on my laptop as "crap ware" when I bought it two years ago. When companies have trial editions of their stuff pre-installed on new computers, it really turns me off to them and their wares. Had I heard of Vongo on my own, I may have been willing to give them a try.

Neutral

Patteey @ Aug 14th 2008 7:28AM

Good grief. I installed Vongo and attempted to make a smooth transition to the Startzplay being offered by Verizon. It has been a nightmare to do this from reps seeming to not know what they were talking about or even about the product to trying to un-install Vongo; it has virus like activity when attempting to un-install it which has to be done before Verizon / startzplay can be installed. It was an absolutely awful experience trying to remove Vongo up to speaking to 6 or 7 reps and tech supports to help. Currently I am on hold waiting for a call back from a Startz tech support; it will surprise me if I get a call back.

Although most of the reps whom I spoke with were polite (is it because the call maybe monitored for quality and training purposes or were they genuinely nice; I doubt it). Anyway, instead of waiting on someone to call me back within 24 ours to 72 hours, after their on-the-phone support instructions were very screwed, I sort every way possible to get rid of Vongo. It seems as though I may have gotten rid of it, but am not sure yet. I had to actually go into the registry and manually do a complete sweep, because it kept coming back when I thought I had it un-installed.

Bottom line of this is I am wondering if Startzplay by Verizon is a program that will be difficult to remove like Vongo. I signed up for Verizon's service with a free 14 day trial, but am very tempted to cancel my trial subscription and wait for experience from others. The Vongo removal attempt took its toll on my mind. I like the idea of that type service, but the aggravation to remove it is sure not worth going through again.

I know about the havoc that Vongo creates upon un-install. If anyone experiences any problems with un-installing the Verizon Startzplay, please, share your experience. Thank you.

Neutral

some guy @ Aug 19th 2008 12:15AM

iv tried getting rid of this stupid program and decided to see what it was actually for, only to findout its not available outside the US, im in canada, i have a canadian model laptop.. so why the hell is this stupid program on my computer >( pisses me off to know this crap is wasting space and wasting my time trying to get rid of it when its completely useless to me!! i had to go to the site on a proxy just to findout what it is. i get my movies for free befor they leave theatres so why the hell would i mess with this junk. i hope the creater of vongo gets some form of testicular cancer in the worst way only to have it need to be removed with a very dull rusty knife by a very inexperienced butcher to avoid it exploding- because karma frowns on people like him, it will happen, u watch.

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