Voom! Dish Network makes 15 niche-programming HD networks disappear

So that's where the bandwidth for that new crop of HD channels came from...

Various websites including Engadget HD and TVPredictions.com reported Tuesday that Dish Network subscribers lost a handful of their HD channels Monday night -- all of which were part of the Voom brand of niche HD channels -- with only Equator, Kung Fu, Rush, Rave and Monsters remaining. 

Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen says Dish Network "will be taking down the rest as soon as we can," according to Multichannel News.  As of Tuesday night, they did, according to a report Wednesday morning on TVPredictions.com.

Voom is owned by Rainbow Media, a subsidiary of Cablevision.   Now with Voom channels only available on a small handful of Cablevision markets on the east coast, this announcement is a big blow to niche-network company.  This leaves analysts questioning whether Voom can survive without a nationwide carriage partner. 

Voom and Dish Network have been embroiled in legal spats lately, with a judge recently denying an injunction request by Voom to keep their channels on Dish's widely-available HD tier.  Dish briefly moved the channels to a higher tier before picking off the first ten Monday night.