My wife and I are very upset that Verizon has dropped Universal Sports network from their programming.
Not only are we not able to watch any of the Figure Skating competitions, but also with the upcoming Olympic Games,
we will miss out on some of the action.
A poor decision by some at Verizon !!!
As mentioned before, Verizon didn't drop the channel. The original Universal sports channel was not carried as a channel nationwide. It was instead a essentially free local subchannel for NBC stations which was carried as a local in a number of areas of the country. NBC/Universal/Comcast choose to stop sending it at OTA and recreated it as a "premium" cable channel. As such it has only picked up initially by DirecTv. Last I checked it hadn't even been picked up by Comcast.
Verizon may eventually decide to carry it, especially because it will carry part of the upcoming Olympics, but hasn't announced anything yet.
@tns wrote:As mentioned before, Verizon didn't drop the channel. The original Universal sports channel was not carried as a channel nationwide. It was instead a essentially free local subchannel for NBC stations which was carried as a local in a number of areas of the country. NBC/Universal/Comcast choose to stop sending it at OTA and recreated it as a "premium" cable channel. As such it has only picked up initially by DirecTv. Last I checked it hadn't even been picked up by Comcast.
Verizon may eventually decide to carry it, especially because it will carry part of the upcoming Olympics, but hasn't announced anything yet.
That's what so funny, Comcast owns the channel and yet they don't even carry it.
I just got this e-mail from UNIVERSAL SPORTS
Universal Sports Fans!!
Universal Sports Network is now on DISH! Thank you to everyone who helped out by calling and/or emailing DISH. Your voice was heard.
From now through April 25, Universal Sports will be available to nearly all DISH subscribers. After that, please check with DISH to see if your package will continue to carry the channel.
Everytime I complain about this Universal vs FIOS thing, some supposedly more knowlegeable person explains how it's all Universal's fault, but I don't care, I just want what I signed up for. We customers, paying say $160/monthly, should come first. How happy will stockholders be if customers feel betrayed enough to flee? With the Olympics coming, and NBC owning the rights to everything Olympic, how can VERIZON not give in to what they want? (Which by the way is what exactly? No one will say.)
Ice skating fans & athletes feel particularly betrayed. Universal Sports has at least had the grace to air some videos on YouTube while VerizonFIOS -- with the horrific TV Guide design, the Universal Sports fail, and now, FUNimation!'s brilliant anime channel dangling like some weirdly colorful detritus off the edge of the digital world -- VerizonFIOS has shown itself to be utterly graceless.
@ekelks wrote:I just got this e-mail from UNIVERSAL SPORTS
Universal Sports Fans!!
Universal Sports Network is now on DISH! Thank you to everyone who helped out by calling and/or emailing DISH. Your voice was heard.
From now through April 25, Universal Sports will be available to nearly all DISH subscribers. After that, please check with DISH to see if your package will continue to carry the channel.
Everytime I complain about this Universal vs FIOS thing, some supposedly more knowlegeable person explains how it's all Universal's fault, but I don't care, I just want what I signed up for. We customers, paying say $160/monthly, should come first. How happy will stockholders be if customers feel betrayed enough to flee? With the Olympics coming, and NBC owning the rights to everything Olympic, how can VERIZON not give in to what they want? (Which by the way is what exactly? No one will say.)
Ice skating fans & athletes feel particularly betrayed. Universal Sports has at least had the grace to air some videos on YouTube while VerizonFIOS -- with the horrific TV Guide design, the Universal Sports fail, and now, FUNimation!'s brilliant anime channel dangling like some weirdly colorful detritus off the edge of the digital world -- VerizonFIOS has shown itself to be utterly graceless.
Sorry whether you like it or not (or agree or not) it is Universal's (NBC/Comcast's) fault, they dropped the channel not Verizon. And now they are trying to force everyone to carry and PAY for the new stand alone channel. Also, NOTE the way that annoncement is worded "please check with DISH to see if your package will continue to carry the channel" , the channel used to be free, sure isn't going forward. Which is exactly why NBC stopped broadcasting it. What you're failing to realize is that you were NOT paying for the channel before, now they (NBC/Universal/Comcast) want you too.
TNS is absolutely correct:
@tns wrote:As mentioned before, Verizon didn't drop the channel. The original Universal sports channel was not carried as a channel nationwide. It was instead a essentially free local subchannel for NBC stations which was carried as a local in a number of areas of the country. NBC/Universal/Comcast choose to stop sending it at OTA and recreated it as a "premium" cable channel. As such it has only picked up initially by DirecTv. Last I checked it hadn't even been picked up by Comcast.
Verizon may eventually decide to carry it, especially because it will carry part of the upcoming Olympics, but hasn't announced anything yet.
if you dont get the programming i will leave fios!!!
And prices are being raised. So the more channels we lose, the more expensive it gets....
We will check out Direct TV before renewing FIOS.
Don't blame you one bit.
This really sucks. I wasn't able to watch figure skating, track, or gymnastics and the olympics are right around the corner. PLEASE BRING UNIVERSAL SPORTS BACK or I will have to switch over to Dish
This makes me nuts. The Olympics are coming. I'm even willing to pay extra for it, but have no idea how to go about this. Any ideas?
This weekend's Visa gymnastics will be streaming for free at least -- from an e-mail.
โ012 VISA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Event starts: June 8 2012 @ 8:00 pm ET
The road to the 2012 Olympic Games in London continues in St. Louis, Mo., with the 2012 Visa Championships at Saint Louis Universityโs Chaifetz Arena. Twenty-four senior women, representing 15 states, are scheduled to compete, including Nastia Liukin and Jordyn Wieber.
This stream will be FREE.
LEARN MORE about this event; our online coverage will run Friday from 8-10pm ET, Saturday from 1-3pm ET, and Sunday from 4-6pm ET (subject to change
@Miandho wrote:This makes me nuts. The Olympics are coming. I'm even willing to pay extra for it, but have no idea how to go about this. Any ideas?
It should not make you nuts, NBC has already announced they are NOT using this channel as part of their olympic broadcasts. The biggtest reason for that is because nobody except DISH carries the channel.
Universal Sports Network for Fios tv for NYC http://universalsports.com/
no, Univeral HD is not the same channel
fiosfan
nyc
shg
Yes, but no, because we should be able to sign in to the web site with our cable provider, but since Verizon FIOS is no longer providing us that channel, we cannot sign in properly. This is not good enough.
Yeah, they want you to change your channel package to a more expensive one!
Yes NOT happy at all...have been missing all of the 2013 Giro di Italia, will probably miss the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana as well this Season.
Signed up with Verizon and FIOS because they offered these Events On their Universal Sports channel, but now.....????
I don't know, we'll probably end up going to DISHTV so as not to miss the Olympics too...
Universal Sports does NOT carry the Olympics or the Tour de France. Those are on NBC Sports Network, channel 590.
Universal Sports does carry the Giro di Italia, the Vuelta a Espana, and a good part of the Olympic Trials.
I am watching the Giro d'Italia on beIN Sports, channel 598 on Verizon FIOS. This is a fairly new channel and for me it's in the Ultimate HD package.
I signed up with Verizon thinking I'd have access to Universal Sports. World Athletics Track and field Championships are here and i cannot see it. Had I known Universal was not available I would have signed up elsewhere. Please get Universal Sports back on the air. Thank you.
Hey. Just now discovered Ultimate HD FIOS TV package includes Sports Pass, which includes UNIVERSAL SPORTS HD (USHD) -- channel 596. A customer service agent called me back afterr initial confusion to let me know -- if the channel says you're not subscribed, press the blue key, reboot, and if it still doesn't work, call Verizon. They'll do it for you. If you're paying for it, you should be getting it! (P.S. OTOH, he said they were rolling it out, so where I live it had been available since the 19th of September.)
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