Cablevision has sold off its Voom high definition satellite television service to EchoStar. I had reported on this earlier, and well the news is pretty much along the same lines. I was off by about $50 million. The deal was for $200 million, according to press release. It costs about $250 million to get a bird up in the sky, so in a sense both parties came out even in this deal. Specifically, EchoStar has agreed to purchase Rainbow 1, a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) located at 61.5 degrees West Longitude, together with the rights to 11 DBS frequencies at that location. The satellite includes 13 frequencies, up to 12 of which can be operated in “spot beam” mode. Its not such a bad deal for EchoStar which is pushing HD content pretty hard these days. Denver Post reports that EchoStar will soon launch high-definition digital video recorders and a new line of thin-panel, liquid crystal display HDTVs. With its SBC partnership, and the new 2Wire set-top box, EchoStar could see some near term subscriber bump, even as it competes aggressively with Rupert Murdoch’s DirecTV. The deal is subject to review by the Federal Communications Commission and other regulatory agencies, reports Reuters.