In an otherwise excellent offering, I personally find Verizon to be absolutely clueless and off the mark with regard to FSC/FSC Plus
FSC is offered in basic and FSC Plus is available for $14.99/month in standard def only. Not only is the picture in standard def, it is one of the poorest quality, most highly compressed picture quality of any standard def channel in the entire lineup.
When will this be addressed Verizon?
DirectTV - FSC offered in HD
Dish Network FSC offered in HD, FSC Plus offered in HD for $14.99/month
Cablevision FSC HD part of basic, FSC Plus HD offered with $6.99/month sports package
At $14.99/month the combination of poor qualty standard def and high cost for such poor quality is frankly insulting to your customers given the other options out there. Otherwise, FIOS is a wonderful product but when will this be fixed? The most expensive and poorest picture quality channel in the lineup at the same time.
Please comment Verizon!!!
I agree with Lighting! I'm watched these channels most of the time and it would be great to add the HD version of these channels to the line up. Please consider it. I was actully looking to switch to Dishnetwork only because they have these two channels in HD.
Thanks for getting the ball rolling on this lighting.
There are already multiple threads on this board regarding FSC.
Yes, the HD channel is "in the queue", but it will be months before we see anything added. Yes, that's months (plural).
PSUMattDE, I am sure that you and I would agree on the subject but I would like an answer from Verizon themselves. I think paying customers are too accepting of this, and don't want an answer from a forum poster.
I would like to hear something specific from Verizon on this issue.
- I can accept a reasonable timeframe may be needed to add a channel to HD lineup to match the superior offering by the competitors, but if they want loyal customers to remain rather than switch to those competitors, please communicate WHEN
- I can't accept the technological issues with this particular channel which is far choppier and more pixellated than most if not all of the standard def channels in the lineup. Verizon is accepting a premium price of $14.99. In my personal opinion if you are going to charge this high a price and want to retain your customers you need to offer the channel in HD. But failing that, at a bare minimum it should be a high quality SD feed. There is no question the broadcast quality is there. Verizon simply isn't broadcasting it. I have friends in other cities in the US with Verizon FIOS, universally I am told the pixellated quality of this channel is extremely poor. It is not just me.
Verizon reps won't comment on this forum. Read the others threads on FSC for any info.
Lightning-
No offense taken at all!
Here's the deal - VZ made the announcement that FSC HD is #2 in line to be added as the next HD channels. They have also stated they cannot, and will not make any other statements until after it is launched.
Right now - there is zero capacity to add national-level HD channels. Until something is done and finalized to change that, we will not see FSC HD. We are still month(s) away from seeing soccer in hi-def.
I know, this is frustrating news, and believe me - it frustrates me every day.
@PsUMattDE wrote:Lightning-
No offense taken at all!
Here's the deal - VZ made the announcement that FSC HD is #2 in line to be added as the next HD channels. They have also stated they cannot, and will not make any other statements until after it is launched.
Right now - there is zero capacity to add national-level HD channels. Until something is done and finalized to change that, we will not see FSC HD. We are still month(s) away from seeing soccer in hi-def.
I know, this is frustrating news, and believe me - it frustrates me every day.
So they could drop a channel and add EPL and Serie A games on HD? I wonder if there is 1 channel they provide in HD that wouldn't be missed too much if they would drop it . Maybe they could just show the games on the weekend and the Oprah network could be shown in SD Sat-Sun? Is that even doable? Is Oprah even in HD?
I have to admit, I have been pretty shocked at all the attention FSC HD (and other soccer channels) have gotten on this forum and on Twitter to @FiOSTV. I never would have thought soccer had such a following in the US. And for the most part, I'll have to agree with the comments usually provided by Twitter Joe - while there are a lot of passionate soccer fans requesting it here and on Twitter, FSC certainly isn't that highly-rated a channel. BET is currently #1 in the HD add list, and has much higher ratings, and I assume that all other sports channels would as well.
Soccer just isn't big in America, no matter how many people complain about it here. Verizon has good reason not to make it their top priority.
I agree that BET may get better ratings, but not having BET in HD will not cause many people to leave FIOS for another provider compared to many people I already know that have left FIOS for a provider that already carries FSC and/or GOL TV in HD. How many people do you see beggin for BET in HD on this forum and on twitter (esp compared to those wanting the sports channels they watch in HD)? Not many because BET in SD on a large LCD TV doesn't look too bad, but FSC or FSC + in SD look horrible. I think most people are upset that Verizon is not communicating with those of us that pay so much money each month about any kind of timeline for expanding its HD offerings. We were all told by Twitter Joe (@fiostv) back in the Fall that FSC was next to go to HD. Then a couple of weeks ago he came out with BET is next and FSC is after that. I think most of us would agree that if we knew a general timeline (doesn't have to be a specfic date, but rather 1st quarter, 2nd quarter, etc.) of when FSC will come in HD we would be more satisified. Instead it's been nearly 12 months since FSC has been available in HD (and the European season 2/3's over and CL coming to a close soon) and we still have no idea when we will be able to get it on FIOS.
Soccer may not have a very large audience here in the States but the same could be said for Golf. How many people do you really think watch Golf? Cablevision has Fox Soccer Channel and Plus in HD. I am having it installed this weekend. While the picture on Fios may be very good for some reason Verizon has the worst customer service with the clunkiest phone menu I have ever experienced. Verizon needs to give its cutomers a firm date when they plan to show Soccer in HD. Getting bumped for a channel like BET is laughable. They gotta be kidding.
Regarding the brilliant decision to jump BET over FSC on the HD priority list, I am reposting my comment from an EPL forum here in hopes that someone from Verizon reads it so they won't have to call me when I cancel my service to ask why...
"It makes you wonder how the FIOS employees who made this decision ever got promoted to their current positions without having a clue about what’s going on around them. How many customers do they think they would lose if Bernie Mac and Mo’Nique were not available in HD? Seeing they have no clue, I will tell them… ZERO. So I can switch back to Cablevision, stop paying an extra $15 a month for FSC+, and watch FSC and FSC+ in HD. Tough decision. Dopes."
Got FSC HD this morning. Looks great. Hoping Verizon adds this soon. I prefer FIOS over Cablevision but I need the HD feed for the Soccer.
I will join the band wagon for FSC HD!! I love to watch soccer, especially in HD. The pixelation is horriable on the SD FSC. Please put FSC in HD soon!!!
first off, I completely accept the technological delays in adding it to the HD lineup.
there is a BIG difference between BET and FSC Plus. BET is a free offering. Subscribers are being charged $14.99 a month for FSC Plus. Its one thing to not offer a free channel in HD and completely another where you are charging $180/yr and not offering it in the best quality available.
anyway people are completely missing my main gripe which is the poor SD quality. Name a FIOS SD channel that has an equal or poorer quality - you can't. there isn't one. I know people in video engineering - they tell me that FIOS is intentionally downsampling the feed quality to save bandwidth/money.
I doubt I will actually get a response. I dare anyone to try calling the help line to complain about it - they will walk you through a bunch of completely irrelevant fixes and gloss over the fact - the picture quality is poor because Verizon is intentionally making it that way.
Also is it a coincidence my 2 prior user accounts were deactivated forcing me to create a new one each time to continue this discussion? Maybe...
lightning11,
I show that your two previous accounts are still active on the community. Please send me a PM with the issues you're having accessing them.
Thank You
I just switched from Directv and cannot believe there is no HD soccer.
Good thing I have not canceled Directv yet. At least, I'll see Real Madrid in HD on tuesday.
But wow, maybe I need to go back to Directv.
Once in HD, it is so hard to go back to SD. 🙂
Lightning-
Verizon is not doing ANYTHING to the SD feed of Fox Soccer. I've had numerous conversations with the engineers, and FSC is one of the lowest bit-rate sent SD channels they receive. Crap in, crap out, as they say.
It is FOX's issue, not Verizon. As you know, look at Fox Soccer, then go look at say, Gol TV on 313 - both SD, but the quality is night and day.
Fox Soccer HD fans,
I was told by FiOS Fox Soccer HD is allegedly already on the list of upcoming channels to be offered as #6, however please join me in voting by clicking on vote button by following the link below --> click vote button on upper left side, I'm hoping it might become available earlier if we all vote
Thanks
http://forums.verizon.com/t5/Share-Your-Ideas-with-Verizon/Soccer/idi-p/233315
Let's bring the Fox Soccer Channel HD to FiOS!!!
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