New England Cable News

I am getting the message "you are not subscribed to this channel" when trying to watch NECN, Channel 513 in Massachusetts. I have always been able to watch this station - last I checked it's a "local" channel. I subscribe to the "Preferred HD" package. Was it moved to one of Verizon's more "expensive" tiers (Extreme or Ultimate)? I really hope not. This channel is very valuable for local news and weather when the OTA local stations are airing network programming.

Accepted answers

kdex86

Called 1-800-VERIZON and spoke to a representative. He initiated a different kind of reboot/refresh (different from rebooting the STB), and the channel is active again.

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zanthena

Had the same issue. Called Verizon and had them send a signal to all of my equipment (7 dct700, 1 stb, and 1 dvr) which are now receiving the channel again.

kdex86

Okay, I'll give Verizon a call.

kdex86

Called 1-800-VERIZON and spoke to a representative. He initiated a different kind of reboot/refresh (different from rebooting the STB), and the channel is active again.

sdp1

I live in Rhode Island, and the latest channel to go is New England Cable News (NECN), channel 13/513.

Verizon used to notify me when a channel is going away, and I received no such notification for this one. Since there's no way to email Verizon support, I emailed NECN and got the following response:

FiOS has opted to take NECN off the basic tier of channels effective this month. While we are disappointed in this news, we are happy to say that Verizon will continue to offer NECN on many of its enhanced digital tiers.

I have the ExtremeHD package, I believe the only tier above that is Ultimate. Do I have to subscribe to Ultimate now to get this one channel that I watch frequently?

What gets me is I'm in a contract with Verizon where I have to pay a ETF ... shouldn't Verizon be on the hook to keep the same channels I'm subscribed to as long as I'm contract? I'm so sick of losing channels. And they never seem to ADD any.

Luckily there is competition here in RI, so perhaps I'll just move back to Cox once I'm out of contract!

EDIT: I didn't see this thread before posting... will try calling Verizon to see if they'll turn it back on for me.

disgusted17

The same with me....Verizon has taken the NECN news channel off their basic service and will charge an extra $42.00 per month to have channel 13....sinful. I can only afford the basic service at $100.00 per month and now Verizon wants $42.00 more. It's crazy because the New England News Channel is a basic channel. Verizon knows we like this channel and now they as usual - are screwing us.

I would suggest filing a complaint with the MA Attorney General (very easy to do online) and email the MA Governor and your local Rep.

At some point Verizon has to be held accountable. And we need to speak up to help ourselves. We can do it!

disgusted17

The India customer service rebooted me and nothing happened.....then after running in circles for hours- they said no longer part of basic or basic HD service.

$42.00 more a month to have NECN

CRobGauth

Its all about cost.

Verizon pays the provider for every subscriber that has access to a channel.

It could be that NECN raised their price per subscriber.

And Verizon chose to limit it to those tiers that are paying more.

They can also look at how many people are watching a channel so the cost per viewer may not have been worth it to them.

Rewerbe

I received the message as well. I have HD preferred so I gave the 800 number and they reset the box and now I have the channel back. I hope it lasts.

It makes me uneasy that a channel can just be removed at any given time. Two months ago I moved to Verizon from Comcast, after 13 years, because Comcast suddently removed a favorite channel. Now I'm learning Verizon does it too? What's up with this? This doesn't seem right.

hdrew724

I would recommend that everyone files a complaint with your state's Attorney General's Office - I did this morning with the MA AG office. This is not right that they just pull it from our plans and ask to upgrade to a more expensive package and commit to a 2 year contract - ridiculous.

Check out the upcoming Youtube TV offering - $35/month, includes unlimited DVR, 40 stations (NECN will be there), and many other pluses - no contract, cancel at any time.

kdex86

If anyone in MA or RI still having a problem tuning to NECN, I've received word that it's been removed from the "Local" TV package. It is still included with Preferred, Extreme, and Ultimate (not sure about the Custom packages). Because of this, the signal was recently encrypted (when it was previously unencrypted). It's possible that your set-top box was/is still provisioned not to "decode" it, because it is a "local" channel.

A call to a Verizon rep should fix this problem. When I called on Monday, and explained my problem to the CSR, he immediately asked if it was Channel 513. There is also an option in the automated menu about "fixing Chs. 13/513".

CRobGauth

Contract explicitly states they are allowed to add or delete (yes I know it is more delete than add) at any time during the length of the contract.

Stynger55

This is **bleep**. I know what it says but if I decide to pay less or change my services whenever I feel like it they would never allow it. What if I have the sports package and they take away the Red Sox games or a news package and they take away all of the news channels unless I upgrade? Why is any of that different? I agreed to a contract so why don't they honor their end? A deal is a deal and unless I agree to a change I should feel secure in the fact that I will be paying X amount of money for the package that I agreed to until the contract expires. I'm sure that once it does expire my "deal" won't be as good as it was before but that is expected. Hey, losing NECN isn't the end of the world but it is one of those things that adds to the distain that we have for cable companies in general.