FSN Southwest HD (Ch. 576) only showing colored bars, and no channel guide info. Why???????????
todompol7
Newbie

I've been a Fios customer for a couple of years now, and just last week switched to HD.  Everything is fine, so far, except channel 576, Fox Sports Southwest, does NOT show up.  It only shows colored bars.  The channel guide on my STB only says "Next Game June 6 6:00 p.m.".  It has said that for a week now.

I called tech support, and was first told that it meant there was a local blackout.  Not true, as FSN in SD (Ch. 76) was carrying the Rangers game at that time.  So, then I was told that it meant that FSN Southwest had no HD content to show.  I call **bleep**.  I saw the Rangers/Red Sox game at a bar earlier tonight, IN HD, on FSN.  And, you mean to tell me that FSN has an HD channel, but has had no HS content in the past 7 days?  Sorry, that's not true.

If Verizon doesn't know the answer, could contact info to Fox Sport be provided so that I can get the channel I'm paying for? 

 
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Re: FSN Southwest HD (Ch. 576) only showing colored bars, and no channel guide info. Why???????????
KenAF
Specialist - Level 2

@todompol7 wrote:

I've been a Fios customer for a couple of years now, and just last week switched to HD.  Everything is fine, so far, except channel 576, Fox Sports Southwest, does NOT show up.  It only shows colored bars.  The channel guide on my STB only says "Next Game June 6 6:00 p.m.".  It has said that for a week now.

I called tech support, and was first told that it meant there was a local blackout.  Not true, as FSN in SD (Ch. 76) was carrying the Rangers game at that time.  So, then I was told that it meant that FSN Southwest had no HD content to show.  I call **bleep**.  I saw the Rangers/Red Sox game at a bar earlier tonight, IN HD, on FSN.  And, you mean to tell me that FSN has an HD channel, but has had no HS content in the past 7 days?  Sorry, that's not true.


Many of the Fox Sportsnet HD channels are not 24/7 channels.  They only show HD when a game is on.

Fox Sportsnet splits a limited amount of bandwidth between high-definition FSN networks for several markets.  They stick something like four or five FSN-HD networks on one satellite transponder, but the bandwidth only exists to show two or three HD feeds at a time.  Hence, they only show HD games when they are actually on; the rest of the time, they display color bars.

Now, it is possible that some other providers may mirror the content from the 24/7 SD channel -- essentially switching over to the SD channel --- whenever there is no HD content showing.  But as noted above, that content is not on the HD feed.

 

Although it doesn't happen often, there are times when more than two or three HD games (i.e. more than the max FSN supports via satellite) are showing at the same time.  In that event, FOX Sports uses some criteria to determine which feeds are shown in HD and which are not.  When that happens, providers like DirecTV and Dish Network would be the only providers to have the game in HD, because they show the opposing team's out-of-market HD feed -- which does not exist on Verizon FiOS -- as part of their MLB Extra Innings package.
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Re: FSN Southwest HD (Ch. 576) only showing colored bars, and no channel guide info. Why???????????
Justin46
Legend

Welcome to the awful FOX SportsNet SW HD broadcast schedule!

The SD channel (76) is 24/7, but the HD channel is most definitely very much (really very little) part-time. And you cannot believe the Guide info either; it frequently says "next ... on ....." or something, and there will actually be something broadcasting right then (this time of year it will usually be a Houston Astros game), and during college football seasion there will sometimes be games.

However, you can't blame Verizon for this. As KenAF said, that is the nature of FSN channels. You may think you saw a game in HD in a bar, but frequently what that is is the SD channel  being shown "full screen" (not stretched, which makes people looked fat).

Here is a link to a website which lists the current DirecTV channel listing for FOX sportsNet SW HD:

http://areyouwatchingthis.com/tv/stations/foxhdsw-fox-sports-southwest-hd-feed-1 

You can see there how sparse the programming is. And I think that you will see the exact same schedule on FiOS.

Anyway, apparently it is what it is, and until FOX does something that is all we are going to get.

__________________________________
Justin
Verizon FiOS TV, Internet, and phone
IMG 1.6.2, Build 08.58
Keller, TX 76248

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