Cablevision pulls plug on Kung Fu HD

By Mark Pollard | Published December 19, 2008

Another blow has been struck to the distribution of martial arts movies here in the U.S. this week following news of Navarre’s closure of its BCI Eclipse home video subsidiary. Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp., is pulling the plug on domestic operation of Voom HD, a collection of 15 high-definition TV networks, one of which includes Kung Fu HD.

The action comes in response to narrowing carriage, particularly following Dish Network’s decision to drop Voom back in May. That led to a $1 billion suit by Rainbow charging a breach of contract. It also left the networks’ with only one carrier, Cablevision, which now intends to replace all of the Voom HD content with other programming in January.

Kung Fu HD is the only dedicated martial arts movie network on television in the U.S. A quick look at today’s scheduled line-up reveals what current and potential future audiences will be missing in 2009. Movies airing today include chambara classics like ZATOICHI ON THE ROAD and SAMAURI GOLD SEEKERS, Shaw Brothers classics like BOXER FROM SHANTUNG and modern actioners such as 2000 A.D. and BICHUNMOO.

Not being a satellite or premium HD TV subscriber, I have never had the pleasure of watching Kung Fu HD but I know of others who have enjoyed this service. It provided fans with a dedicated, high quality alternative to buying or renting DVDs. It also provided licensed distributors with another distribution channel to support the continued release of martial arts movies. With the closure of BCI and the scaling back or selling off of classic genre films by The Weinstein Company, companies like Toei, Golden Harvest and Celestial Pictures are going to have an even harder job of getting their massive libraries of martial arts and action films released here in the U.S.

The question this raises is, what are fans to do when the movies they want to see gradually stop being shown and sold through legitimate channels? Anyone who remembers the ’80s, when grindhouse theaters began closing, cable networks dropped their Blackbelt Theater line ups and VHS distributors folded, they already know the answer to that question.

Thanks goes to forum member maskedavenger for this news tip.

Source: Multichannel News

Discuss this topic in the comments section below or in our related forum thread.

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  • Shiguro Mayimoto
    Rat Bastads. I want my Kung Foo HD dammit!!! Zatoichi the blind swordsmans cuttin hands off on a boad full of wangs, priceless!
  • Gibran
    when they cut kung fu hd, i was sad and didn't watch tv for a month...bring it back dammit!!!
  • adaosha
    Know what you mean...

    Its been nearly two years now since they dropped the best channels. I'm a Dish Net customer. They came real close to losing me when they dropped VOOM. I loved Kung Fu HD, Monsters HD, Family HD, Gaming Channel, and the rest. Replaced by mostly crud channels. Oh well...sigh..
  • michaelmaurice
    Besides not being able to see Bruce Lee more often I was very very disappointed when KungFu channel was dropped, The first time I watched
    ZATOICHI starring Shintaro Katzu I was hooked on the series and could not get enough of it,, the must be some kind of way it can be brought back!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Carlos
    It's been a while now, so is there any other cable system that has something similar to KFHD? I will switch in a heartbeat if there is one.
  • ggordonsmithton
    My disappointment with Cablevision pulling the plug on Voom Networks (with an emphasis on Kung Fu HD) cannot be measured. The marketing gurus need to rethink their moniker and eliminate a word:"vision", as they lack it as a group.

    I will be working with my congressmen and senators to abate their tenacious grip on their monopolistic grip on this industry in order for the people to choose what THEY want to see, and not what some insipid eggheads deem appropriate for the masses.

    F*&%ng jack@$$
  • rara
    these movies were one of the reasons i started martial arts and made me continue it. i hope when the economy is better it will come back... sigh
  • julio
    cablevision drop 15 channels and were still paying full amount . time to cancel cable and go with att which offers now fiber optics channels . cablevision u suck
  • PISSED OFF DAD
    I bought a 50 inch flat panel and upgraded my service just to have that channel..It was like being on drugs..Pure bliss...why in the world would you remove the best channel !!!EVER!!! i grew up on these movies and it was the best tv time in my life ...tv just sucks now...i guess this is how it feels when addicts get off drugs..that channel was on 24 hours a day in my house...Cablevision should get it head out of it`s A$$ and bring back the VOOM network so we can get our kung fu on.....
  • Dave
    AH crap! I believe it's all about control. Why!? WHY?! WHY?! Seems like the paying customer doesn't matter.
  • MYLES
    U GUYS SUCK I DONT EVEN WATCH TV BESIDE THE KUNG FU CHANNEL ITS BEEN MOUNTHS AND I MISS THE HELL OUT OF IT BRING IT BACK OR I THINK YOUR GOING TO LOSS ALOT OF PEOPLE I MEAN WHAT ARE U GUYS OFFERING IT SEAMS LIKE WE ARE GETTING CHEATED THE ONE REASON I GOT YOUR SERVICES WAS BECAUSE OF THAT CHANNEL WELL THANKS FOR NOTHING AND TO BOOT MY CABLE BILL IS OFF THE ROOF I HAVE EVERY CHANNEL THOUGHT BUT STILL I DONT MIND JUST OFFER THE BEST TO YOUR CUSTOMERS LIKE THE KUNG FU CHANNEL ONE MURE THING STOP OFFERING BS PACKEGE DEALS AND GET ON THE BALL
  • So sad its been several months and I miss kung fu hd so much. I was heart broken and still am.
  • +1 к предыдущему комментарию :)
  • pissed off
    you f@#&s killed my only reason for watching television. being a kid in the 80s, my world revolved around saturday afternoon kung fu flicks. and the voom network brought a lot of that old enjoyment, that i used to love as a kid. so if there is anyone with a brain at cablevision, hear me clearly. "get some f@#&kin kung fu movies on the air pronto, or else i'm going to verizon fios.
  • phillip suarez
    i dont know how cablevision can make a bad decision and pull the plug on the kung fu channel and the monster channel this was one of the worse things use people can do if you guys think your working over there you must be working for free or working for goofy lol and the japeneese they have a saying do not look whos at fault just fix the problem you guys are crying that its not your fault but are you doing anything about it the awnser to that question must be no you bunch of fools ..................fooolssssssss..............fooooolsssssss im moving to pa now cause the cable here sucks and comcast is better
  • GONZALEZ ARNOLD
    I am very.......upset that you took Kung Fu HD out of your lineup,with so much bad channels to kill,you guys killed a good one.I am from phil,pa I don"t know why you did it .my sis & myself wound watch kung fu hd a lot and I wound tell her that this was one channel in New York that was the best.......Cablevision!!!.....hear me fix it ,find a way to put the channel back on...just saying it wasnt your fault ,dont mean a thing....fix......it......is there anybody over there that cares about what we like to see. fix it!!!
  • Wolverine
    Yea Cablevision Sucks My dad and I watched Kung Fu HD alot. with nothing much on tv it was a way to kill sometime, besides killing time we are huge fans of Kung fu movies. we called calble vission but they claimed it wasnt their fault. this is some bs.
  • Chanelle
    I've been watching this channel since April 08'. My 4 favorites were, Rave HD, Gameplay HD, Kung Fu HD and Monsters HD. These channels had programming that was actually worth watching. I moved to Georgia and lost all of that programming. My heart sank when I realized dish network dropped it where I moved to. I even emailed them asking if they will bring it back. Regular TV is NOT WORTH WATCHING!! If you haven't experienced any of these channels, you missed something great. I'm officially done with television.
  • alli
    SOOOO disappointed...I hadn't even heard about it until i went to watch it today and...SURPRISE!!!...it's now listed as HBOFH...WHAT! BOOTLEG...ABSOLUTELY BOOTLEG!! at least netflix allows you to stream certain movies...that'll have to work for now...>sigh<
  • sheryl smith
    i am so disgusted!that all i watched all day please bring it back
  • Tracy
    Hey...I was actually starting to learn how to speak Chinese and Japanese from watching that channel!! I learned a lot more from that channel than stupid American Idol crap!!! Wake up folks...the Government is trying to keep you dumbed down and stupid!! Thats why the people at Obama Inauguration were too stupid to go in there and remove those who were really responsible for the country economic problem today. CONGRESS!!! Instead they stand there as a bunch of followers of some jackass word called change!! Well...dont just stand there folks...make the change then!!Get up off your butts and start using your brains!!! And throw out all these crooks including the owners of these cable companies!!!
  • BruisedLo
    Hmmm well there is Black Belt TV. Don't any of you guys like that channel? lol.
  • rashone johnson
    I am going to change my service provider. Without the KUNG FU channel I have no reason to keep cablevision. Besides their service was horrible and that was the only thing that was keeping me. I've had enough. I'm gone!!
  • Michael Chen
    All I can say is Cablevision sucks! The first provider to start showing Kung Fu HD will get my business.
  • Kahnight
    I am a huge Sports fan & I found my Self Watching Kung Fu HD over big sporting events it was the Best Channel ever!

    I erased a lot of movies from my DVR that night because it seemed like they were about to play a brand new line up instead of replays. If I would of known that I would never erased a single Kung Fu movie ever!

    RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF KILLER CLANS MY SCREEN GOES BLUE UNBELIEVABLE
  • js
    I loved watching Kung Fu HD. It was great watching the old Jackie Chan movies, but the best was watching the original subtitled Shaolin Soccer. It was so much better than the butchered American release that it was like watching a totally different movie. I am happy I caught it a couple of days before they pulled the plug. Cablevision has, currently, and always will suck!!!
  • Elena
    Sigh, I scrolled through 4 pages disgruntled ramble hoping that some one would have an answer as to how or where we can get our beloved KFHD back. Alas, no such luck. So here I am leaving my own little piece of ramble. Freakin A.
  • RAS
    What a rat thing to do one of the best things on cable to watch CABLE BRING IT BACK:::::::::::
  • Tracy
    Where is my refund Cable?? You took away product that we all agreed to pay for. And you still charge the same!!! Where is the justice? Hey all you guys..arent we being ripped off now too by cable??? They owe us some new programming that is comparable dont they??
  • Brother Mar
    Yes 4 one was not so deadly... 8)-
  • Brother Mar
    A frakking joke this has happened seriously, shows that deserve to go on get cancelled and crap shows come back...there are literally DOZENS of CRAP channels that serve no purpose other than taking up space and a great channel like this is killed??? A big frakking joke....jeezus. I would personally dispatch pei mei and the 4 deadly venoms to get who ever is responsible.
  • NM
    Same comment as above. unbelievable….monsters HD and kung fu HD were the only 2 channels i watched. VERIZON FIOS here we come!

    I am returning my HD box for a regular cablevision box next week. All the other channels are repeats of other channels anyway. I plan to a switch to Verizon over the next month.
    Cablevision You Suck!
  • JR chase
    Monster HD was the Best...Will it ever come back? Or whre can I find it? The was the worst week of my HD Career.
  • vic vic
    they need 2watch there set up of programs and ask themselves if they "fucked up"by taking there most popular programs off the air!!!!the person or poeple in charge need 2 look at this . theres power in NUMBERS!!!!!!
  • Edshugeo The GodMoor
    The Voom network were part of the "Io" package of channels which now contain cable stations I do not watch. I canceled that part of my service right away, citing removal of programing I enjoyed.
    Right away meaning after being on hold for a long while and listening to a soft jazz version of "Eye Of The Tiger."
  • I was hoping this will be a freaking nightmare when I heard and blog this here last year. But today is true to me the top 3 hd shows are gone kungfu hd, monster hd and the gameplay hd are all gone plus others. Is true what we all say cablevision love screwing things up don't be surprise chiller is next and is not hd either.

    This is B.S. I tell is dish or verzion have this great hd channel I'm switching. Paying all this money for cable for nothing you better off buying dvd's now and start a full collection.
  • VAL
    IT WAS VERY REFRESHING TO HAVE KFHD. KFHD OFFERED A BETTER VARIETY OF MOVIES TO WATCH, INSTEAD OF THE SAME TWO MOVIES CABLEVISION SHOW ON IFC WHICH IS ALWAYS WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES. IF I HAVE TO READ WHY NOT GRAB A BOOK!!! THE MONHD WILL ALSO BE MISSED. WHY IS IT WHEN SOMETHING GOOD WORKS, SOMEONE SCREWS IT UP? HAVN'T YOU HEARD OF THE EXPRESSION " IF IT'S NOT BROKEN DON'T FIX IT"
  • mike
    Cablevision really messed up ,If someone else comes along with the voom network(kung fu channel in particular) I am jumping on that boat. Talk about sabotaging your own company.
  • mike
    I watched kung fu HD the other night and right in the middle of the movie the network went m.i.a. I can't believe it! Does no one realize what a loyal fanbase there is with martial arts movies!!!!! Finally voom comes along and fills that need. Now I am back to where I was before. This sucks.....
  • bluntedout247
    me and my mother is upset about this she stayed on monsters hd and me on kung fu hd looks like i have to d/l from the internet again... :-(
  • Tery
    I already left a message with the kung fu hd site when i saw this posting in my search for kung fu hd. yes, i was hoping to find a streaming version on the web. to no avail, i am still unbelievably disapointed however not surprised by Cablevision's (should be renamed Stupervision for obvious reasons)
    asinine move to cancel the only reason y i kept Stupervision.Isn't it bad enough that im paying outta my kazoo for the privilege of watching all the re-runs my poor brain could handle.In the beginning i thought, well good at least now i have something to look forward when they brought down voom.i don't no if u guys were aware but there was also game hd which along with kung fu and monster totally made up for the lackluster programming that was offered. im so done. This most definitely is the last straw.Isn't there a way to create a new cable network one that doesn't charge and arm and a leg for quality programming.And voom wherever u r i will find u again.Cable i mean Stupervision u really really really really SUCK.
  • larry
    I just got home from work to find that both channels are gone....those were the only channels i enjoyed viewing......nothing else mattered
  • Ron
    I want to add one more thing...VOOM is way ahead of the curve when they kept their integrity and honesty when they broadcasted programs in TRUE HD or old films remastered in HD format. NOT up-converted!
  • Ron
    This completely sucks. I turned the channel today that in the high hopes that CABLEVISION would have some sense to leave the channel alone. Alas...I was wrong and so was CABLEVISION for making the dumbest move in the world.
  • I am so upset I completly loved kungfu hd, the reason I have a dvr. I watched it 24/7 for months now. I really enjoyed this channel it was definitly a great relaxing voyage watching old school kung-fu flicks. I am completely heart broken to see:

    "This Channel has Ceased Operations And Will No Longer Be Available"

    I hope they replace kungfu hd and monster hd with smiliar programming come late January.
  • Susan Ringler
    I was beyond horrified to wake up this moning to no more kungfuhd or monsterhd! Those are my favorite channels and I have other friends who got cablevision service just to see those channels. Cablevision claims voom stopped broadcasting but the fact is that cablevision dropped them. They have negatively affected my life! If I find another provider with these channels I will immediately switch.
  • PB
    Didn't keep up with the news re: VOOM. Just got home, turned on my tv to relax and DAMN - Kung Fu and Monster HD were replaced with a "This service has been discontinued" message.

    I too see no reason to keep cablevision. I really enjoyed KFHD. It was great fun, pure escapism, and gave a small glimps into another world so different from ours.

    Am I p@ssed? You bet. cablevision is going to replace voom with what? Premium, pay-extra channels?
  • I am still beside myself! I am a HUGE fan of foreign films and those remastered Shaw Brothers films were a joy to behold. Weren't they?
  • I can't believe it. My wife just went to bed and I turned on my favorite channel and the only one I watch. KUNG FU HD IS GONE!!!

    I am absolutely heartbroken and don't know what to do with myself as it looks like it's gone forever. Thank goodness I have recorded a dozen or so of the best (Dirty Ho, Killer Clans, 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Legendary Weapons of China, Five Brothers, et.al.) on my DVR. What the hell are we going to do now?

    BTW, Blockbuster online has many, many classic martial arts films, 50 or so that are in my queue for delivery to my home. You should all sign up, $19.99/month is a reasonable price to pay.
  • ek20
    unbelievable....monsters HD and kung fu HD were the only 2 channels i watched. VERIZON FIOS here we come!
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