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Below is a topic currently being discussed in WXXI's DTV Question Forum. If you have a question about DTV, be sure to have a look at our DTV Transition Pages and browse our list of forum topics! If you can't find the answer you need, please create a new topic. Feel free to share your own experiences and answers as well.
Time Warner Cable Blocking OTA Digital Channels
By Anonymous ~ Posted Wed, 03/25/2009 - 1:36am
I have two HDTV's with built in Digital tuner and was able to receive OTA digital signals from my local Public Broadcasting (WXXI) and Network channels using "rabbit ears". My digital signal however would sometimes fade so I had basic cable installed to improve reception. Now I can receive only analog signals on my HDTV because Time Warner cable is blocking my access to free OTA digital signals. I called them and they told me I had to purchase digital cable to receive digital TV. When I questioned this mentioning the must carry rule, they told me to UNPLUG the cable. How can TIME WARNER block digital signals which I could receive OTA with a rabbit-ear antenna for free. Is this not illegal and what can be done about it. I am furious. The cable installers were at my house for 4 hours installing a cable "service" which is prohibiting me from receiving DTV and never told me my digital signal would now be blocked.
There oughta be a law and I believe there is. How can it be enforced!
Anyway I am royally P.O.d about this - something needs to be done about it.
I have the same problem and
I have the same problem and am in the process of trying to figure it out. I am equally p!ssed at Time Warner and need to know what to do about it. Please let me know if you figure it out, and likewise.
Thanks and good luck.
You should be able to get
You should be able to get the digital channels through TWC basic cable. They may not, however, appear on the channel numbers you expect. And, you probably have to run a channel scan on your tv to even find them.
tw used to pass the
tw used to pass the unencrypted qam channels on the higher channel numbers wxxi hd was on 82.something, wuhf was on 83.something etc
just over a week ago, they reassigned channel numbers so that channel 8 hd is now on 8.1, 10 is on 10.1 etc. however, after that change, i no longer receive wxxi hd. i get all of the other 4 channels on their reassigned channel numbers
i also called tw and after getting through to a tech guy who knew what unencrypted qam was, and given nonsensical reasons why it was no longer wowking, he eventually relented and stated that we are 'lucky' to have been getting the unencrypted qam channels but are under no obligation to supply them. i do not know how true that is. the fcc rules that i have found are clear as mud. be that as it may, time warner is now loosing a customer
So, where are the answers to
So, where are the answers to these questions?
TWC-Local HD channels
Well, I'm experiencing the same issue as the rest of you and based on the ongoing discussion and what I've been able to find out from other sources it seems that there is not a whole lot we can do about it. I personally plan on buying an attic antenna and using that for my local HD channels. I live in the DFW area and I just lost my local channels using TWC this afternoon.
I'm in Webster and I was
I'm in Webster and I was receiving WXXI digital channels just great before the 6/12 switch. After the 12th I've been unable to receive them. Nothing has changed with my setup. However -something- must be different now and I don't understand how it cannot be on the WXXI side. Something must have had an unintended side effect which is causing this problem for more than a few people.
My problem fixed
My digital channels also stopped getting signals a few weeks ago. I finally decided to try having my television do a rescan for all channels. Now the digital channels work again. I went to another television without a cable box in my house and did the same thing. Channel 5-1 had no signal...I had the tv do a rescan of its channels, now 5-1 works like it used to. I hope this might work for some of you too.
I am ticked off too. I also
I am ticked off too. I also could receive them even with the cable feed, but they are now scrambled. It is just their ploy to make you pay for HD TV. The same additional channels for PBS are not blocked and I can still receive 4/5 additional feeds for them, but all 4 network channels now no longer work. Please post find out an answer to the problem. Class action suit?
Have you tried an A/B switch
Get yourself an A/B switch that you can switch between signals.
This is beside the point.
This is beside the point. We were getting it crystal clear and now it's gone. In my area the reception is terrible and I'm not wiring an antenna from my roof to my basement. Give me a real solution
Time Warner Cable Blocking OTA Digital Channels
I too have lost my HD channels previously broadcast by Time Warner. I called them about this problem and they gave me a runaround about how they have temporarily lost some channels and are working on the problem. I don't believe it. They have always been coy about Basic Cable. It's like they don't want to admit that it exists. I have tried to find out on their website just what Basic cable entiles one to. I can't find it. I spoke to a representative and they said I can only recieve channels from 2 to 22 but that's not true becuase I recieve 77, 78 and 99. I also still receive one HD channel on 127.002 (channel 16). I wonder how they missed blocking that one?
I guesss the only thing we can do is cancel basic cable. However, they probably figure that for every five people that cancel the $9 basic cable one person will buy the $50 digital option and they will still be ahead. That's the "free" market way.
Don
Time Warner Basic Cable and HD
I don't know how this all works, but I lost a bunch of channels today after the Tech left?
I had the box, and some package.....but then I bought a HDTV with HD tuner and read to plug the cable straight to the HDTV and do a SEARCH AUTO...
I did and had an ample amount of basic channels. So I returned the box and its obnoxious crap remote.
Things were ok for some time, paying $16 month for basic, many HD channels, fomr 2-80, then 80 was the Radio channels,, then around 90 to 120 more duplicate and some odd local channels that were cool!!!
this was fine, until today.
the prick-Tech who came to work on my HiSpeed internet, went to the outdoor box and did something and now I get 40% of my channels?
Did he put in a filter or something? I re-did an Auto search and now only get 2-30, with maybe 64, 76, and a handful in the 103-1, 103-2 type channels(repeats form 2,3,5) etc...
So does anyone know what the Tech did that would cut out numerous channels I was getting?
If you updated your TV
If you updated your TV package then your in agreement with a new contract with the company. Now they can go with their new policy. They want you to upgrade to get all the channels. Marketing practice.
Answer to HD channels lost
This is basically what happens when you loose your in the clear HDs. Before all the big cable systems had digital service they had up to 78 analog channels and used 2 filters to block the Basic (23 channels) Expanded (24-78) channels. They are still using the same old filters with digital today. So any channel between 24-80 will be blocked by the expanded cable filter. So If your cable company has HDs on channels 24-80 and you do not sub to expanded service then the HDs are being blocked by the the expanded cable filter. Most cable systems do have or use a filters for channels 85-125 at this time because digital cable has not been and may never be computerized by cable pirates. At this time most cable systems plan to move the expanded service from analog to digital and Basic service will be the only analog left on most cable systems. You maybe seeing this happen now with some of your expanded analog channels being move to digital cable.
Must-Carry
I also have the same problem. I don't understand how you can just lose these in the clear HD channels. According to FCC rules local channels are "must carry". They must carry them in HD quality w/o any encryption.
Maybe everybody should drop
Maybe everybody should drop time warner and look for a different provider. Thats what I'm in the process of doing. I figure if enough people leave things are bound to change!
Time Warner Blocking Channels
I just lost channels 27, 37, 57 and 70 to all of my televisions in my house that do not have a cable BOX, just the wall plug in. I called TWC and now they are telling my that I now have to get a cable box for every T.V. in my house if I want to receive those channels! I'm already paying them almost $100 a month as it is with one box!!! They told me that it was the stations that are doing this and not TWC. I don't believe them being that everyone I talk to there has a different story everytime I call in about any type of problem. Can ANYONE give me a solution????
you can recieve those channels
Im not sure where you are located but if you have time warner and an HDTV with a digital tuner you can get the free ota channels by using the auto program function on your tv. once you have done that your tv should automatically tune to those channels... for instance, time warner cable charlotte channel 5 (analog) is a local pbs station, at channel 5.1 is that same station now broadcast in HD. I dont have the digital package btw. If you have a tv like a westinghouse that doesn't have a liquid interface between hdtv and analog you may need to tell your tv to auto program for hdtv or select only digital channels for viewing.. Also another interesting thing most people dont know is that time warner uses something called virtual channels meaning that what most people see with the digital package as channel 138, is really broadcasted on a very awkward digital signal like (this really isnt the channel just an idea) 94.12583. so if you have a digital tuner that is capable of scanning such a channel depth you will be able to receive some channles that you arent supposed to.. just an example: espn 2hd is 103.1276, BETHD 103.1272, TNTHD 102.1273....
Oh and just as a side note, there is absolutely no way that time warner can control your tv to be blocked from free channels... time warner only has control over their equipment not yours. however there are several channels that are broadcast on these weird channels that need to be decoded by cable card or something along that line.. hope this helps
TV lost certain digital free channels periodically with TW cable
I had problems loosing channels with Time Warner. I had an analog set and got basic cable, channels 2 through 20.
When I bought my first HDMI set , I realized I got alot more HD channels and THIS-TV movie channel. After about a week and a half I would get a snap sound and Time Warner would blitz my three HD channels off and I would have to re-scan all cable channels back in. I called a Time Warner tech support and they denied anything and told me it was my set. I even called my TV manufacturer and they said it might be a bad tuner to send it back. I found that it was only the same three channels and not the others. Its just Time Warners greedy cheap shot. I think I might watch Tv programs online and get netflix instead. I'm tired of paying for commercials and garbage channels I dont want. When I was a kid, they played movies all the time, now its paid programming for juicers,etc.
Its Time Warner, Its not your set.
My set looses three channels every week and a half to two weeks. Time warner techs say it is probably my set and their not doing anything. They lie! They send a blitz through to kick THIS-TV movie channel off and two local channels and weather associated with it off. I have to re-scan all channels in to get them back. I am going to netflix and watching TV shows on line and I am not going to pay for commmercials and paid programming anymore!