[rnopelo]

In my area Comcast last week switched C-Span to HD while keeping the same channel number (1128). This channel came in on my TiVo in standard definition before the change. Now I get the message “Channel not available. Contact your cable provider for more information.” The channel is still available in standard definition on channel 44.

I forced a connection to the TiVo server to see if that would help but it didn’t.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there something else I should try?

I dread dealing with Comcast, but is there something specific I should say I need them to do on their end if I need to contact them.

thanks!

 

[ThAbtO]

Not with Comcast, You need to report the new frequency while tuned to it from Diagnostics.

Tivo Customer Support Community

 

[rnopelo]

Thanks for your reply. I reported the new lineup info to TiVo.

 

[rnopelo]

I submitted a channel update to TiVo and had two lengthy phone calls and still am unable to receive the channels that became HD.

I was finally able to find out that these channels are provided by IP and are not able to be received using a cable card with TiVo.

I wanted to update this as others will likely begin losing access to certain channels from Comcast.

It looks like Newsmax HD, cspan 1, 2, and 3 HD, and WGN HD are among the channels that are delivered using IP and are not able to be received on TiVo with cable card for Comcast customers.

I’m surprised the TiVo reps I spoke with did not mention this. Surely this is something they are aware of.

Sadly, this is a sign of things to come that will undoubtedly affect more and more channels.

 

[ThAbtO]

IP channels are not possible with Tivo.

 

[roccorocco]

My Comcast service is providing only 15 HD channels of the full available list of HD channels I am paying for. I have tried all available suggestions via the remote support page..no results. The phone line is busy and my local service center is closed. Does anyone know their real comcast customer service number?

 

[ThAbtO]

My Comcast service is providing only 15 HD channels of the full available list of HD channels I am paying for. I have tried all available suggestions via the remote support page..no results. The phone line is busy and my local service center is closed. Does anyone know their real comcast customer service number?

See if the cable card is properly paired, and what model is that card?
Post pictures from the cable card screens.

 

[brimorga]

My Comcast service is providing only 15 HD channels of the full available list of HD channels I am paying for. I have tried all available suggestions via the remote support page..no results. The phone line is busy and my local service center is closed. Does anyone know their real comcast customer service number?

I have the same problem. Called them, they did a reset, no go. Then they did another reset which was supposed to clear everything and take 30 minutes, didn't work either.

 

[HDTVjunkie]

I submitted a channel update to TiVo and had two lengthy phone calls and still am unable to receive the channels that became HD.

I was finally able to find out that these channels are provided by IP and are not able to be received using a cable card with TiVo.

I wanted to update this as others will likely begin losing access to certain channels from Comcast.

It looks like Newsmax HD, cspan 1, 2, and 3 HD, and WGN HD are among the channels that are delivered using IP and are not able to be received on TiVo with cable card for Comcast customers.

I'm surprised the TiVo reps I spoke with did not mention this. Surely this is something they are aware of.

Sadly, this is a sign of things to come that will undoubtedly affect more and more channels.

Unfortunately, you are correct on all counts. Comcast is clearly trying to put an end to Tivo in their systems. It is really a shame.
Here is the list of IP only channels that I just got from Comcast. Note that you can view these with a Set Top Box, but it has to be an Xfinity X1 STB, and you have to pay extra. The list of common channels no longer available to Tivo users is stunning indeed.
· Afro HD

· Aspire TV HD

· Band International HD (under the Brazilian and Portuguese sections)

· BET HER HD

· BBC World News HD

· Black News Channel HD

· C-SPAN HD

· C-SPAN 2 HD

· C-SPAN 3 HD

· CLEO HD

· Comedy.TV HD

· Cooking Channel HD

· CTC (under the Russian section)

· Discovery Family HD

· Discovery Life HD

· DIY Network HD

· EWTN HD

· FOX Sports 2 HD

· FOX Deportes HD (under Sports Channel section)

· Galavisión HD (under the General Entertainment Channels section)

· Hallmark Drama SD and HD

· i24NEWS HD (under the Israeli section)

· Jewelry TV HD

· Jewish Broadcasting Service (JBS) HD (under the Israeli section)

· JusticeCentral.TV HD

· MTV2 HD

· Music Choice channels (Central Division only)

· NDTV 24x7 (under the South Asian section)

· Newsmax TV HD

· Nick 2 HD

· Nick Jr. HD

· Nick Toons HD

· NTV America (under the Russian section)

· Ovation HD

· Pac-12 National HD (under Availability > Pac-12 HD Channels section)

· Pac-12 Regional HD (under Availability > Pac-12 HD Channels section)

· POP TV HD

· QVC2 HD and SD

· QVC3 HD and SD

· Rai Italia HD (under the Italian section)

· Recipe.TV HD

· Revolt HD

· RTR-Planeta (under the Russian section)

· Rossiya 24 (under the Russian section)

· SEC Overflow HD (under the Channel Description section)

· Smithsonian HD

· The Sportsman Channel HD

· Sundance HD and SD

· TBN HD

· Teen Nick HD

· The Filipino Channel (TFC) (under the Filipino section)

· TUDN HD (under the Sports Channel section)

· TV Asia HD (under the South Asian section)

· TV JAPAN HD (under the Japanese section)

· TV5MONDE HD (under the French section)

· Universo HD (formerly NBC Universo) (E&W) (under the General Entertainment Channels section)

· Univision HD (under the Broadcast Channels section)

· UniMás HD (under the General Entertainment Channels section)

· WGN America HD

· Willow TV HD (under the South Asian section)

· Zee TV HD (under the South Asian section)

· Z Living HD

· Zona Fútbol HD and SD

 

[PSU_Sudzi]

Unfortunately, you are correct on all counts. Comcast is clearly trying to put an end to Tivo in their systems. It is really a shame.
Here is the list of IP only channels that I just got from Comcast. Note that you can view these with a Set Top Box, but it has to be an Xfinity X1 STB, and you have to pay extra. The list of common channels no longer available to Tivo users is stunning indeed.
· Afro HD

· Aspire TV HD

· Band International HD (under the Brazilian and Portuguese sections)

· BET HER HD

· BBC World News HD

· Black News Channel HD

· C-SPAN HD

· C-SPAN 2 HD

· C-SPAN 3 HD

· CLEO HD

· Comedy.TV HD

· Cooking Channel HD

· CTC (under the Russian section)

· Discovery Family HD

· Discovery Life HD

· DIY Network HD

· EWTN HD

· FOX Sports 2 HD

· FOX Deportes HD (under Sports Channel section)

· Galavisión HD (under the General Entertainment Channels section)

· Hallmark Drama SD and HD

· i24NEWS HD (under the Israeli section)

· Jewelry TV HD

· Jewish Broadcasting Service (JBS) HD (under the Israeli section)

· JusticeCentral.TV HD

· MTV2 HD

· Music Choice channels (Central Division only)

· NDTV 24x7 (under the South Asian section)

· Newsmax TV HD

· Nick 2 HD

· Nick Jr. HD

· Nick Toons HD

· NTV America (under the Russian section)

· Ovation HD

· Pac-12 National HD (under Availability > Pac-12 HD Channels section)

· Pac-12 Regional HD (under Availability > Pac-12 HD Channels section)

· POP TV HD

· QVC2 HD and SD

· QVC3 HD and SD

· Rai Italia HD (under the Italian section)

· Recipe.TV HD

· Revolt HD

· RTR-Planeta (under the Russian section)

· Rossiya 24 (under the Russian section)

· SEC Overflow HD (under the Channel Description section)

· Smithsonian HD

· The Sportsman Channel HD

· Sundance HD and SD

· TBN HD

· Teen Nick HD

· The Filipino Channel (TFC) (under the Filipino section)

· TUDN HD (under the Sports Channel section)

· TV Asia HD (under the South Asian section)

· TV JAPAN HD (under the Japanese section)

· TV5MONDE HD (under the French section)

· Universo HD (formerly NBC Universo) (E&W) (under the General Entertainment Channels section)

· Univision HD (under the Broadcast Channels section)

· UniMás HD (under the General Entertainment Channels section)

· WGN America HD

· Willow TV HD (under the South Asian section)

· Zee TV HD (under the South Asian section)

· Z Living HD

· Zona Fútbol HD and SD

These are all fringe channels, not widely watched. Comcast is moving slowly as they need to replace lots of their own equipment.

 

[HDTVjunkie]

These are all fringe channels, not widely watched. Comcast is moving slowly as they need to replace lots of their own equipment.

Yeah, that is the corporate view. Fringe channels, and fringe customers. Sorry Mrs. Wilson, you can't watch any of these channels now on your Tivo. You have become a fringe customer.
Here is a partial list of the fringe channels I got from Comcast today.
BBC World News HD

· Comedy.TV HD

· Cooking Channel HD

· Discovery Family HD

· Discovery Life HD

· DIY Network HD

· FOX Sports 2 HD

· Hallmark Drama SD and HD

· Music Choice channels (Central Division only)

· Newsmax TV HD

· Nick 2 HD

· Nick Jr. HD

· Nick Toons HD

· Ovation HD

· Smithsonian HD

· The Sportsman Channel HD

· Sundance HD and SD

· TBN HD

· Teen Nick HD

· Univision HD (under the Broadcast Channels section)

· WGN America HD

 

[chiguy50]

As I wrote in more detail in response to your other post in the Bolt thread, Comcast will not likely cease QAM service for many years, and in the meantime there are alternatives to allow you to supplement your TiVo reception for those IP-only channels.

 

[HDTVjunkie]

As I wrote in more detail in response to your other post in the Bolt thread, Comcast will not likely cease QAM service for many years, and in the meantime there are alternatives to allow you to supplement your TiVo reception for those IP-only channels.

Likely, as in a calculated probability? Based upon what? Why would they move QAM channels to IP only under any circumstances? It sure as heck is not to improve or even maintain customer satisfaction. The bean counters made the decision to save money. Period. And they will make that decision again just as often and quickly as possible if the move to IP results in a net win in an expense vs revenue analysis. And for the customer, the choice is either to not accept the loss of channels and cut the cord, or spend their time and money to find an acceptable way to view those channels. And Comcast created no good will by doing this without making the changes clear to their customers. We Tivo users just suddenly started getting error messages and had to figure it out for ourselves.

 

[chiguy50]

Likely, as in a calculated probability? Based upon what? Why would they move QAM channels to IP only under any circumstances? It sure as heck is not to improve or even maintain customer satisfaction. The bean counters made the decision to save money. Period. And they will make that decision again just as often and quickly as possible if the move to IP results in a net win in an expense vs revenue analysis. And for the customer, the choice is either to not accept the loss of channels and cut the cord, or spend their time and money to find an acceptable way to view those channels.

My viewpoint is based on a number of factors, to include the high number of Comcast rental STBs still in the field that are not IP-capable. There is no reasonable scenario under which this elephantine corporation is going to switch over to IP-only transmission quickly, even if they wanted to. The trend-line is there, for sure, but how long it will take to complete--if ever--is anybody's guess. The process has actually been underway for a number of years already, and most knowledgeable observers agree that the endgame is nowhere in sight. Personally, I would be surprised if Comcast were not still transmitting video over QAM five years from now.

I know it's of little consolation if one of your favorite niche channels has been subject to the switchover, but that's the nature of subscription cable TV: Comcast is very upfront about not guaranteeing that any particular channel will remain in a given service pack. Besides going to IP-only, many channels over the years have been moved to a higher service tier or an add-on pack (e.g., TCM).

And Comcast created no good will by doing this without making the changes clear to their customers. We Tivo users just suddenly started getting error messages and had to figure it out for ourselves.

To the best of my knowledge that is not true. If you pay attention to your monthly statements or read your on-line account information, you should find advance notice of any changes to the channel distribution. Granted, it's usually posted only a month or two in advance, but that's still something.

 

[HDTVjunkie]

My viewpoint is based on a number of factors, to include the high number of Comcast rental STBs still in the field that are not IP-capable. There is no reasonable scenario under which this elephantine corporation is going to switch over to IP-only transmission quickly, even if they wanted to. The trend-line is there, for sure, but how long it will take to complete--if ever--is anybody's guess. The process has actually been underway for a number of years already, and most knowledgeable observers agree that the endgame is nowhere in sight. Personally, I would be surprised if Comcast were not still transmitting video over QAM five years from now.

I know it's of little consolation if one of your favorite niche channels has been subject to the switchover, but that's the nature of subscription cable TV: Comcast is very upfront about not guaranteeing that any particular channel will remain in a given service pack. Besides going to IP-only, many channels over the years have been moved to a higher service tier or an add-on pack (e.g., TCM).

To the best of my knowledge that is not true. If you pay attention to your monthly statements or read your on-line account information, you should find advance notice of any changes to the channel distribution. Granted, it's usually posted only a month or two in advance, but that's still something.

Oh I know that they do inform their customers, but it is never very much in advance, and most customers would not understand it (broadband QAM vs IP) anyway. And if you pay via autopay, you never look at your bill anyway.
I agree that the providers will stick with broadband for as long as it makes them money. But I have no doubt that they will continue to cut back on broadband programming as quickly as possible. Much lower cost to provide one fast IP channel to a home than 5-1002 MHz broadband.

 

[dishrich]

Why would they move QAM channels to IP only under any circumstances?

If you look thru all the IP-channels, most were NOT "moved" to IP-only; they added HD versions of existing channels to the lineup, in IP-only. You can still get the SD versions of those existing channels on your Tivo, as they are still QAM. I know you don't want to hear this, but that's not "moving" channels to IP-only.

Your local system might also be very strapped for bandwidth, which is why some of your existing QAM HD channels DID get moved to IP-only, such as WGN-A, C-SPAN 1, Cooking Ch & DIY. I do understand what you're saying re: moving existing channels to IP-only...but that's the reality of what's happening on Comcast. We still are getting them in QAM here just fine. Of course, that COULD change at any time as well.

Also, Music Choice did NOT get "moved" to IP-only in the Central Division; it's still very much QAM here & even still works on DTA boxes. (I have all 3 types of Comcast boxes besides my Tivo, & I leave 1 QAM box on MC 24/7 for the whole house, so I know this for a fact) If you cannot get these on your Tivo, you most likely have a channel mapping issue with your particular, local Tivo lineup, that might need to be fixed. And to that point, MC is probably one of the LAST group of channels that will get moved to IP-only, as they take up VERY little bandwidth to begin with. (the equivalent of 1 analog TV channel for ALL of them) If you know anyone that has a non-X1 cable box or DTA on your system, ask them if they still get MC & then you'll know for sure. (I can 99.99% guarantee they are...)

To be sure though, most (complete) new channel adds, are now IP-only; Hallmark Drama (BOTH SD & HD versions), Newsmax & Black News Channel are examples of new IP-only channels - & as already mentioned, are mostly fringe/2nd or 3rd tier channels. Also, depending on the contract that Comcast has with a given channel, they ARE still adding QAM channels here & there; we just got Marquee Sports added back last May, & BOTH SD & HD versions were added in QAM & work just fine on Tivo's here. (after rattling Tivo's cage to get the channels added to our local lineup, which they did)

 

[PotEmUp]

In my area Comcast last week switched C-Span to HD while keeping the same channel number (1128). This channel came in on my TiVo in standard definition before the change. Now I get the message "Channel not available. Contact your cable provider for more information." The channel is still available in standard definition on channel 44.

I forced a connection to the TiVo server to see if that would help but it didn't.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there something else I should try?

I dread dealing with Comcast, but is there something specific I should say I need them to do on their end if I need to contact them.

thanks!

I ended up filing a complaint with the FCC. Xfinity is incapable of providing a list of channels received by the CABLECARD that they rent to us to allow TiVo to receive their service. A resolution person contacted me and listened to my complaint. He then said a local person would contact me about resolution. The local could not do anything, but did offer me a substantial discount on my next bill.
My belief is that they are trying to force TiVo out. Xfinity suggested Roku or other streaming devices to pickup the missing channels.
Filing with FCC has been interesting, but I don't think it will really shake anything enough to get a change.
Per the Cablecard service personnel the cablecard is old technology and Xfinity has no plans to update it.

 

[slowbiscuit]

So let me get this straight, you believe Comcast is trying to force Tivo out by moving some seldom-watched HD channels to IP? Really?

Wake me up when they move some mainstream stuff.

 

[dishrich]

Some more channels got HD versions added today in the Chicago region (& most likely others), in IP-only:
1425 Game Show Network
1426 TV Land
1655 Inspirational
1701 Disney Jr.
1766 FXM
These MCLU channels, like any other IP-only channels, have been removed from QAM channel maps...which means NLA on CC's & legacy TV boxes.
However the SD equivalent 2/3-digit channels should still be available on all existing devices that have them now.

 

[ThAbtO]

Tivo does not support IP channels.