# Verizon Fios copy-flagging Fox channels



## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

Rut Roh.

Verizon Fios seems to be copy-once flagging Fox channels now. Ugh.

If anyone else wants to confirm, check FX, FS1, FS2, BTN, FBN, Fox News, NatGeo, NatGeoWild, FXX, FXM, FCSA, FCSC, FCSP, Fox Deportes, BTN Alt, BTN Alt2.

This is in addition to HBO/Max that were previously flagged.


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

BigJimOutlaw said:


> Rut Roh.
> 
> Verizon Fios seems to be copy-once flagging Fox channels now. Ugh.
> 
> ...


Natgeo is copy once. I didn't check the other channels, I'm sure you're right

I wonder if fox made the request or if Fios decided to follow Comcasts policy


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## Marc (Jun 26, 1999)

I'm sorry to see this change, but I'm fortunate that there is little that I watch on those particular channels. Of course, I'm sure that this is just the beginning; a few channels here, a few more channels there... no one will notice if done incrementally, right?


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## agredon (Jul 26, 2011)

lew said:


> I wonder if fox made the request or if Fios decided to follow Comcasts policy


Comcast is flagging Non-Premium channels now? I wonder when that started as they weren't flagging anything (except possibly HBO, Cinemax, et al.) as of a couple months ago when my parents left Comcast.

My cable company used to flag everything except basic cable and at one point even (they claim unintentionally) flagged the local channels for 2 months after going all digital. They now flag only the premiums (HBO, Cinemax, etc...) If Xfinity and FiOS (who used to flag little or nothing) are now flagging, it would be a strange reversal.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

That explains why NatGeo wasn't coming in on my Roamio with the unpaired card the other day. Disgusting.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

Since when has Comcast been flagging stuff that they don't need to? And why does Fox get any special treatment from the cablecos?


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

agredon said:


> Comcast is flagging Non-Premium channels now?


They aren't doing it here (yet?). This is the first I've heard of them doing it anywhere.


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

I don't have Comcast I thought they're the cable system flagging most channels as copy once. I wonder if this is a change in the way Fios is operating or a response to a "request" by fix.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

lew said:


> I don't have Comcast I thought they're the cable system flagging most channels as copy once.


It's TWC that's been doing it, not Comcast.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

BigJimOutlaw said:


> Rut Roh.
> 
> Verizon Fios seems to be copy-once flagging Fox channels now. Ugh.
> 
> ...


I only checked FX but yeah, I'm seeing it copy protected. 
That's a little annoying. I rarely needed to transfer shows, but I like that FIOS used to be unrestricted about it.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

According to NYCDave on DSLreports, it was a Fox request.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

BigJimOutlaw said:


> Rut Roh.
> 
> Verizon Fios seems to be copy-once flagging Fox channels now. Ugh.
> 
> ...


I just noticed this tonight on the DSLreports forum. And when I did some test recordings they came up as copy protected. The only channel I'm pissed about is National Geographic.

I guess it is good that I put a 5TB drive in my Roamio Pro a few weeks ago. Although now I'm thinking I should have gone with a 6TB drive.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Jonathan_S said:


> I only checked FX but yeah, I'm seeing it copy protected.
> That's a little annoying. I rarely needed to transfer shows, but I like that FIOS used to be unrestricted about it.


First is was HBO and Cinemax, three years ago being copy protected on FiOS. I guess it was only a matter of time until more channels became copy protected.


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## Bytez (Sep 11, 2004)

This sucks, I can't stream those channels on the Tivo app now.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

lew said:


> I don't have Comcast I thought they're the cable system flagging most channels as copy once. I wonder if this is a change in the way Fios is operating or a response to a "request" by fix.


I think you meant Cox, they flag everything, except in a few markets, They both start with a "C" so your excused.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Bytez said:


> This sucks, I can't stream those channels on the Tivo app now.


It depends on the device for me. My Nexus 7 doesn't seem to want to stream the copy protected shows. But my Galaxy S6 will stream my copy protected Cinemax recordings as well as the Fox test recordings I did yesterday which all show up as copy protected on KMTTG.


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## BobCamp1 (May 15, 2002)

BigJimOutlaw said:


> Rut Roh.
> 
> Verizon Fios seems to be copy-once flagging Fox channels now. Ugh.
> 
> ...


The response is not "rut roh." These are FOX channels. You have to use a FOX TV show.

The appropriate response is, "D'OH!"

I'm sure as more contracts with content providers expire and are renegotiated, we'll gradually see all the channels flagged as copy-once.


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

Bytez said:


> This sucks, I can't stream those channels on the Tivo app now.


I can stream to an iPad and moto x 2 gen. Have you updated the app?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

lew said:


> I can stream to an iPad and moto x 2 gen. Have you updated the app?


 The online.tivo.com web app currently doesn't stream copy protected material even within the home (unlike iOS and Android which do).


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

You can't OOH stream copy-protected recordings with either app and there's no sideloading with the Android app.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> I just noticed this tonight on the DSLreports forum. And when I did some test recordings they came up as copy protected. The only channel I'm pissed about is National Geographic.


Wow. What a bunch of morons at Fox. Although it's not like they were that good in the first place...


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Fox was suing Dish over their Sling functionality, so they are obviously anti-OOH streaming. It makes sense that they would request MSOs start copy protecting their channels to prevent TiVo from streaming OOH as well. Hopefully TiVo can get downloading to Android working, with the copy and delete function for protected shows, so that Android users at least have an option for these networks.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Dan203 said:


> Fox was suing Dish over their Sling functionality, so they are obviously anti-OOH streaming. It makes sense that they would request MSOs start copy protecting their channels to prevent TiVo from streaming OOH as well. Hopefully TiVo can get downloading to Android working, with the copy and delete function for protected shows, so that Android users at least have an option for these networks.


 I never tried it myself, but I hear the iOS version of copy and delete CCI protected shows is very buggy.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

moyekj said:


> I never tried it myself, but I hear the iOS version of copy and delete CCI protected shows is very buggy.


The only problem I currently have with copying down to the iPad is how painfully slow it is and that it cannot work in the background.

If I do not remember to kick it off overnight, it simply won't get done.


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## Bytez (Sep 11, 2004)

aaronwt said:


> It depends on the device for me. My Nexus 7 doesn't seem to want to stream the copy protected shows. But my Galaxy S6 will stream my copy protected Cinemax recordings as well as the Fox test recordings I did yesterday which all show up as copy protected on KMTTG.


I have a rooted s6 and it wouldn't stream a saved recording on nat geo. The play on phone option is greyed out.



lew said:


> I can stream to an iPad and moto x 2 gen. Have you updated the app?


I'm using the latest version.


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## JimMc1984 (Jul 19, 2015)

It looks like ever since Fios made this change, I can't get any of those channels (FX, FXX, FS1, etc.) to work on my Tivo Roamio box. When I try to pull up any of them, the box says that the channel is not authorized or it brings up the activation screen. Is this a Cablecard issue or a Tivo issue? Any ideas?


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

CC issue. You need to contact Verizon to have your card paired to the TiVo.


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

JimMc1984 said:


> It looks like ever since Fios made this change, I can't get any of those channels (FX, FXX, FS1, etc.) to work on my Tivo Roamio box. When I try to pull up any of them, the box says that the channel is not authorized or it brings up the activation screen. Is this a Cablecard issue or a Tivo issue? Any ideas?


The card isn't paired. Contact Verizon with the lines of data on the screen and request it be manually validated.


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## caughey (May 26, 2007)

innocentfreak said:


> According to NYCDave on DSLreports, it was a Fox request.


That makes sense, since anything else would be more random. This is consistent with Verizon's apparent policy of copy-protecting only at the content owner's request. FSW is the only channel I checked that isn't CPed; whether that is an oversight or because it's regional.

This is just a warmup for those of us the are being sold off to Frontier.



JimMc1984 said:


> It looks like ever since Fios made this change, I can't get any of those channels (FX, FXX, FS1, etc.) to work on my Tivo Roamio box. When I try to pull up any of them, the box says that the channel is not authorized or it brings up the activation screen. Is this a Cablecard issue or a Tivo issue? Any ideas?


What BigJim said. Tell them to "manually validate my cablecard" and make sure they get the numbers right, especially the data ID.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

This is an enormous PITA for me since my FiOS cards have not been properly paired in ages and since I have no premium channels it hasn't mattered for my viewing.

As far as anyone asking "so just call, it's NBD" in general I'd agree but I had a billing fiasco about 18 months ago with Verizon and I just don't feel like dealing with them at the moment to pair 5 cards again.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

It can certainly be a PITA and it can also go easily. I've seen it both ways over the years.
But never as bad as a couple of months ago.

That was the last time I had an issue and it was a huge PITA. I upgraded to a 5TB drive so of course I lost pairing. But in the process of re-pairing, they made me lose all channels except locals.. And they could not fix it since the Cable card was hosed in the computer system. I had to order a new card. So at the local FIOS store the next day I turned in the old one and picked up the new one and it was fine once following the new CC activation/pairing instructions. But it should have only taken a few minutes to re-pair my card. And instead they royally screwed things up.

I never did call them back about getting my billing credits for them screwing me. I spent so much time on the phone and in chat that night I just didn't want to deal with them any more. I guess I should contact them soon so I can get a few months of HBO for free before the show "The Leftovers" starts up again. Assuming they actually put a note in the system, like they told me, about getting some credits for the trouble they caused.


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## JimMc1984 (Jul 19, 2015)

JimMc1984 said:


> It looks like ever since Fios made this change, I can't get any of those channels (FX, FXX, FS1, etc.) to work on my Tivo Roamio box. When I try to pull up any of them, the box says that the channel is not authorized or it brings up the activation screen. Is this a Cablecard issue or a Tivo issue? Any ideas?


As a follow up, VZ claims an outage in my area is preventing them from communicating with the card. I'll follow up tomorrow to see if anything has changed.


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

dianebrat said:


> As far as anyone asking "so just call, it's NBD" in general I'd agree but I had a billing fiasco about 18 months ago with Verizon and I just don't feel like dealing with them at the moment to pair 5 cards again.


Understandable. For what it's worth, their twitter support folks are good. 5 cards are a lot to do through text, but if you follow @verizonsupport and ask them to follow you, you can get it handled over DMs. They'll need the cards' serial numbers as well as the 3 other lines. (The SN is on the cablecard screen too.)

Last time I did this on a new box, it was done in about 20 minutes from the time I DMed them. It would have been 15 but the pairing failed the first time so I had to remind them to manually validate it, and it worked the second time.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

BigJimOutlaw said:


> Understandable. For what it's worth, their twitter support folks are good. 5 cards are a lot to do through text, but if you follow @verizonsupport and ask them to follow you, you can get it handled over DMs. They'll need the cards' serial numbers as well as the 3 other lines. (The SN is on the cablecard screen too.)
> 
> Last time I did this on a new box, it was done in about 20 minutes from the time I DMed them. It would have been 15 but the pairing failed the first time so I had to remind them to manually validate it, and it worked the second time.


Oh trust me, I've had that good experience, but the billing issue was related to the CableCARDs and them having them on multiple accounts, then them closing the wrong account, transferring the wrong services, etc, it was a cluster, so at the moment it's easier to just not watch Fox properties so I'm good until NASCAR is back on Fox next Feb.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

dianebrat said:


> This is an enormous PITA for me since my FiOS cards have not been properly paired in ages and since I have no premium channels it hasn't mattered for my viewing.
> 
> As far as anyone asking "so just call, it's NBD" in general I'd agree but I had a billing fiasco about 18 months ago with Verizon and I just don't feel like dealing with them at the moment to pair 5 cards again.


Heh. I had to pair a few weeks ago it it was a couple of 30+ minute calls (during which they managed to temporarily remove all my channels, and eventually they shipped me a new cable card (so I had to return my old one).

This for a card that was able to be paired just fine in my previous TiVo. I'm still convinced from some of what they were saying that, despite multiple requests for them simply to manually validate the card, they kept using commands that were expecting a response back -- which isn't the manual validation.

Cable card pairing still seems very much hit or miss.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Jonathan_S said:


> Heh. I had to pair a few weeks ago it it was a couple of 30+ minute calls (during which they managed to temporarily remove all my channels, and eventually they shipped me a new cable card (so I had to return my old one).
> 
> This for a card that was able to be paired just fine in my previous TiVo. I'm still convinced from some of what they were saying that, despite multiple requests for them simply to manually validate the card, they kept using commands that were expecting a response back -- which isn't the manual validation.
> 
> Cable card pairing still seems very much hit or miss.


At least I'm not alone in my recent Cable Card experience.


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## blushrts (Jul 19, 2005)

aaronwt said:


> At least I'm not alone in my recent Cable Card experience.


I learned a while ago not to bother with a phone call or web chat. Just go right to Verizon direct on broadbandreports and they get it done properly. Which I'm going to have to do here in a couple of days when I get my new Tivo.

RIP media center, it was a great 6 years.


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## sender_name (Feb 12, 2005)

Uuugh...THis is crippling...I have FOx shows that I like to watch on a usb thumb drive on a smart tv...I would auto transfer them and then edit them with videoReDo and then watch them. I had a bunch of shows that didn't transfer and was confused as to why...I checked it out today and saw the dreaded copy protection. I guess I'll just go to t0rr3nts...and delete my season passes...SOOOO ridiculous in this day and age. Don't they know there are 50 different ways to get content and it's only once they make it harder that we'll just go elsewhere....

BTW I had to re-pair my cards the other day and Fios had NO IDEA what could have caused this..when obviously they should have readily had the knowledge that they were doing this to enable copy protection on fox channels...


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

sender_name said:


> Uuugh...THis is crippling...I have FOx shows that I like to watch on a usb thumb drive on a smart tv...I would auto transfer them and then edit them with videoReDo and then watch them. I had a bunch of shows that didn't transfer and was confused as to why...I checked it out today and saw the dreaded copy protection. I guess I'll just go to t0rr3nts...and delete my season passes...SOOOO ridiculous in this day and age. Don't they know there are 50 different ways to get content and it's only once they make it harder that we'll just go elsewhere....
> 
> BTW I had to re-pair my cards the other day and Fios had NO IDEA what could have caused this..when obviously they should have readily had the knowledge that they were doing this to enable copy protection on fox channels...


If your cards were already paired there should not have been a reason to re-pair them because of this.


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## bbrown9 (Mar 12, 2011)

I had this problem and FIOS phone support didn't seem to know about this. I told them what was happening and on what channels and that the cable card screen was displaying. They had me unplug the box and unplug the cable card, wait and the plug it all back in. Then my TiVo got stuck in a boot loop. Apparently something had happened to the cablecard in the process and I had to wait for them to send me a new one (they said none ere available at the local store). I activated the new one online and it's all better now but I wish I hadn't had to wait a day. I lost a day's worth of recordings because of it.


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## randyb359 (Jan 3, 2009)

dianebrat said:


> As far as anyone asking "so just call, it's NBD" in general I'd agree but I had a billing fiasco about 18 months ago with Verizon and I just don't feel like dealing with them at the moment to pair 5 cards again.


A billing fiasco with Verizon. I find that hard to believe


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

randyb359 said:


> A billing fiasco with Verizon. I find that hard to believe


However let me say that even a billing fiasco with Verizon FiOS is 100% better than anything related to doing business with Comcast


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

I guess I was lucky. A few months ago I bought a Roamio, replacing a Premier. I used the online chat. It took a little longer then it should of, but no big deal. At first the rep didn't realize I was asking to pair the card to a new unit. They first needed to do something to "unpair" the card. Take a cell phone picture of the card. They'll want you to give them numbers. It may be easier then reading the numbers off the screen. The rep stayed with me until I verified it worked (checked HbO and a few other stations).

I think it's cut and dried. Either you get a rep who knows how to handle cable card pairing and everything will work. OR you get a rep who doesn't have the slightest idea and it doesn't matter how long you stay on the line.

Initial pairing is easy. VZ gives you instructions. You go to the appropriate section of the website, answer the questions and it's done.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

lew said:


> I think it's cut and dried. Either you get a rep who knows how to handle cable card pairing and everything will work. OR you get a rep who doesn't have the slightest idea and it doesn't matter how long you stay on the line.
> 
> Initial pairing is easy. VZ gives you instructions. You go to the appropriate section of the website, answer the questions and it's done.


I just wish they didn't gate that website stuff off (requiring the activation code they send with the card) in order to use. Because if I could use _that_ to re-pair, or pair to a new box, without giving CSRs a chance to screw it all up... that would be wonderful.


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## wireman121 (Nov 8, 2008)

I'm seeing copy protection on Fargo on FXX now... Has anyone found out if this was intentional or if I can fios that they can fix it?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

wireman121 said:


> I'm seeing copy protection on Fargo on FXX now... Has anyone found out if this was intentional or if I can fios that they can fix it?


All Fox owned channels are restricted on FiOS. FX, FXX, National Geographic, Fox news etc. This is intentional and has been this way since around July.

So three years ago HBO and Cinemax became restricted on FiOS. And this year Fox owned channels. The only question is who will be next to restrict their channels on FiOS.


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## wireman121 (Nov 8, 2008)

Yet fox is not restricted.... That's odd? Anything we can do to convince them to lift this restriction? Number to call or petition to sign?


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

aaronwt said:


> All Fox owned channels are restricted on FiOS. FX, FXX, National Geographic, Fox news etc. This is intentional and has been this way since around July.
> 
> So three years ago HBO and Cinemax became restricted on FiOS. And this year Fox owned channels. The only question is who will be next to restrict their channels on FiOS.


While slightly off topic, there's also the question of which cable system{s}* will be the next do so.

*Tried using parentheses instead of braces but Sucuri denied access.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

wireman121 said:


> Yet fox is not restricted.... That's odd? Anything we can do to convince them to lift this restriction? Number to call or petition to sign?


FOX is on a local broadcast channel, thus should never be copy protected.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

It's actually against the law for them to copy protect local channels. But sadly they can do whatever they want with cable channels.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

Dan203 said:


> It's actually against the law for them to copy protect local channels. But sadly they can do whatever they want with cable channels.


Unless they get a waiver from the FCC.

Didn't one of the NYC area cable companies get such a waiver? I seem to vaguely recall that.


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## Bytez (Sep 11, 2004)

How come I could stream Fox Sports 1 with Fios Mobile app while connected to home wifi but it wouldn't allow me to stream on the Tivo app while connected to the home wifi?  I understand they wouldn't allow it to be streamed outside of home. Could Tivo do something about this?


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Bytez said:


> How come I could stream Fox Sports 1 with Fios Mobile app while connected to home wifi but it wouldn't allow me to stream on the Tivo app while connected to the home wifi?  I understand they wouldn't allow it to be streamed outside of home. Could Tivo do something about this?


That's odd. I can stream a copy protected program via the TiVo Android app when connected to my home wifi.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Yeah, AFAIK, Comcast got a waiver too.


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## Bytez (Sep 11, 2004)

lpwcomp said:


> That's odd. I can stream a copy protected program via the TiVo Android app when connected to my home wifi.


I meant on Tivo Online, not the app.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

Bytez said:


> How come I could stream Fox Sports 1 with Fios Mobile app while connected to home wifi but it wouldn't allow me to stream on the Tivo app while connected to the home wifi?  I understand they wouldn't allow it to be streamed outside of home. Could Tivo do something about this?


I'll give you one big reason, the FiOS app is run by FiOS not Tivo and the cable companies are not consistent in their behavior, the FiOS app is independent of any recordings you may have as far as I know since it works on my ipad and I have no Verizon hardware. Is that fair? no, is that something they can do? yes.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

mattack said:


> Yeah, AFAIK, Comcast got a waiver too.


Comcast got a waiver to *encrypt* locals, not to copy protect them.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Bytez said:


> I meant on Tivo Online, not the app.


TiVo Online *never* allows streaming of copy protected material. The FIOS app might be directly writing to the h/w, thus avoiding the possibility of screen scraping.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

lpwcomp said:


> That's odd. I can stream a copy protected program via the TiVo Android app when connected to my home wifi.


Yes it allows you to stream while in the Home. But not out of the Home. You can stream the protected shows to a mini as well. This has been the normal behavior.


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## ShoutingMan (Jan 6, 2008)

This thread answered my question: Fox is indeed copy-protected on FIOS. After upgrading my drive, I set new OnePasses, that turned out to be reruns of FX and FXX. They're all flagged. It's a nuisance, adding an extra step in transferring to my iPad, and making more finicky and already problematic transfer process.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

ShoutingMan said:


> This thread answered my question: Fox is indeed copy-protected on FIOS. After upgrading my drive, I set new OnePasses, that turned out to be reruns of FX and FXX. They're all flagged. It's a nuisance, adding an extra step in transferring to my iPad, and making more finicky and already problematic transfer process.


Be glad you have that option. On Android that is not an option.


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