Shows suddenly blocked, but no parental controls set
Tmyers526
Enthusiast - Level 1

About a month ago I started randomly getting a black screen with the message "Channel 3 blocked by parental advisory tv rating 14 enter code to view".  It only did this on ABC Family channel, not to any other shows with the same rating -- or even movies and shows rated R or TV MA.  I have never set any parental controls, as I have no children.  I tried entering my PIN for purchasing on demand movies, my Verizon PIN -- nothing worked, and it would take me to channel 1015 for no known reason.

I tried all of the trouble shooting steps, nothing helped.

I spent an hour and a half in the online support chat with Agent Srinivasa on August 5th.  Eventually the problem seemed to be fixed.  Mind you, this had not ever happened in the first 5 months I had service.

Tonight the problem began again.   I was watching reruns of The Big Bang Theory on TBS.  I had watched one episode, and when the next one began I got the same black screen, and in red letters it said "CHANNEL 3 BLOCKED BY PARENTAL ADVISORY RATING PG ENTER CODE TO VIEW."  

I still don't have any parental controls set.  I have no need of them.  Now, half an hour later, when I switch to TBS it is letting me watch the show without a problem.  

The problem seems to be intermittent, but it is nevertheless annoying.  It seems to randomly block shows on different channels, with different ratings.  Nothing should be blocked on any channel (other than the channels I don't pay for, obviously.)

Please help!  I've asked all of my friends who have FIOS, and none of them have ever had this problem.

0 Likes
1 Solution

Correct answers
Re: Shows suddenly blocked, but no parental controls set
KR8CAOS
Enthusiast - Level 2

This issue is most likely being caused by your TV Parental Control Settings.  Please check your television menu, using your TELEVISION remote control, not the FIOS STB remote, and disable your parental control settings, or at the very least you need to setup a pin and disable them.  Based on the information that you provided, when you see this message on your TV, this would indicate that your current wiring from the STB to the TV is Coaxial.  The FIOS stb outputs the video and audio signal on channel 3 as a default option to your television.  Which means if you press the channel "up" or "down" button on your TV, and change the channel to anything other than channel 3, then you will get either a blue screen, or snow.  This is the reason why you are getting the "Channel 3 blocked by parental advisory tv rating 14 enter code to view" messages on your TV since the shows that you are watching is actually not the FIOS channel 3, but instead ABC FAMILY or TBS.

If you have to use themenu button on your tv, or connect your stb using Composite cables instead, just do not forget to change your TV input to match those connections.

This usually happens after the Television loses power for an extended period of time, due to a commercial power outage, surge or just being unplugged from the electrical outlet.  The TV reverts back to factory settings and typically requires the consumer to readjust their preferred settings. 

The Verizon In-Home Agent addresses Customer Premise Equipment issues such as these, save yourself the headache next time and install that on your pc to use for future troubleshooting.  www.verizon.com/connect  It is free of charge and works for Phone, Data and Vdeo services.

Good luck and enjoy your FIOS services.

View solution in original post

Re: Shows suddenly blocked, but no parental controls set
KR8CAOS
Enthusiast - Level 2

This issue is most likely being caused by your TV Parental Control Settings.  Please check your television menu, using your TELEVISION remote control, not the FIOS STB remote, and disable your parental control settings, or at the very least you need to setup a pin and disable them.  Based on the information that you provided, when you see this message on your TV, this would indicate that your current wiring from the STB to the TV is Coaxial.  The FIOS stb outputs the video and audio signal on channel 3 as a default option to your television.  Which means if you press the channel "up" or "down" button on your TV, and change the channel to anything other than channel 3, then you will get either a blue screen, or snow.  This is the reason why you are getting the "Channel 3 blocked by parental advisory tv rating 14 enter code to view" messages on your TV since the shows that you are watching is actually not the FIOS channel 3, but instead ABC FAMILY or TBS.

If you have to use themenu button on your tv, or connect your stb using Composite cables instead, just do not forget to change your TV input to match those connections.

This usually happens after the Television loses power for an extended period of time, due to a commercial power outage, surge or just being unplugged from the electrical outlet.  The TV reverts back to factory settings and typically requires the consumer to readjust their preferred settings. 

The Verizon In-Home Agent addresses Customer Premise Equipment issues such as these, save yourself the headache next time and install that on your pc to use for future troubleshooting.  www.verizon.com/connect  It is free of charge and works for Phone, Data and Vdeo services.

Good luck and enjoy your FIOS services.

Re: Shows suddenly blocked, but no parental controls set
Tmyers526
Enthusiast - Level 1

To the best of my knowledge there haven't been any power outages.  I have an old standard tv -- remote long gone.  The very brief menu does not even list parental controls as an option.  I had the tv autoprogram itself, so hopefully that works!

I have now downloaded and installed the In-home Agent.  Pretty cool!  

Thanks again for your help!  

0 Likes