New England Cable News

[kdex86]

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.

[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 · Accepted solution]

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.