# Comcast Xfinity says no to Premium channels



## JammasterC (Aug 9, 2005)

After a few rounds of CSR help and visiting an Xfinity store, I’m told that I can not receive Premium Channels that are in my package. 
No HBO, NFL Network, ESPN, etc. 

They tell me that the M Card is for Basic level channels only. 

So I guess the TiVo Bolt Vox isn’t truly compatible with Comcast Xfinity tv.


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## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

Get an Apple TV and stream them. i pretty much watch all premium channels that way.


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## Pokemon_Dad (Jan 19, 2008)

Huh? We had an HBO/Showtime package from 2015 thru 2018 on a Roamio Pro with an M-card. Is this something new?


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

JammasterC said:


> After a few rounds of CSR help and visiting an Xfinity store, I'm told that I can not receive Premium Channels that are in my package.
> No HBO, NFL Network, ESPN, etc.
> 
> They tell me that the M Card is for Basic level channels only.
> ...


It is compatible. The CSR and store personnel are wrong. What they're doing is violation of federal law. An FCC complaint will probably fix it.


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

JammasterC said:


> After a few rounds of CSR help and visiting an Xfinity store, I'm told that I can not receive Premium Channels that are in my package.
> No HBO, NFL Network, ESPN, etc.
> 
> They tell me that the M Card is for Basic level channels only.
> ...


No, they are wrong. They are idiots. They are trained to be deliberately obtuse to funnel you into using their hardware.

Simply and firmly tell them that they are wrong, and to please speak to someone who knows what they're talking about.


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## DeltaOne (Sep 29, 2013)

JammasterC said:


> I'm told that I can not receive Premium Channels that are in my package. No HBO, NFL Network, ESPN, etc. They tell me that the M Card is for Basic level channels only.


They don't know what they're talking about. Xfinity here with working premium channels on a Roamio and Bolt.

The only Xfinity function that doesn't work on a TiVo is video on demand.

Just get the cable card and go through the TiVo guided set up. Xfinity has a web site for cable card activation, or if that doesn't work call the Xfinity cable card tech support folks.


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

Funny, I can and do.

Plus, HBO Go works on Tivo for on demand.


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## NorthAlabama (Apr 19, 2012)

there's not a channel in our market i've had trouble receiving using a cablecard with xfinity (close to 10 years), is there something new or different about your market which prevents access to channels?


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## Pokemon_Dad (Jan 19, 2008)

@JammasterC OK now I understand what happened there: you need to be dealing only with CableCARD specialists, or at least a group that regularly gets CableCARD calls.

Did you call 1-877-405-2298? If you already called that hotline but got stuck with an untrained CSR, call again. See this thread: Cable Provider Cablecard Hotline


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## JammasterC (Aug 9, 2005)

Whoa! What day. (spent hours yesterday with Comcast phone reps trying to figure this out)
This morning, a few more phone calls to Comcast trying to figure this out. No luck.

A phone call to TiVo confirmed that I should get "all" the channels I pay for. Stating that the two Comcast Xfinity store reps were wrong saying the M-Card had channel limitations.
The TiVo phone rep figured out that the CableCard wasn't "Authorized" properly.
I was told exactly what line of code in the CableCard Conditional Access menu was of concern. Off to call Comcast again.

Then it happened.
I lost Internet for hours.
No one could figure it out. No signal was getting to the House.
Everything was fine until a Comcast phone rep was poking around the CableCard values trying to Authenticate it.

Multiple Levels of Technicians, Managers, etc., they couldn't figure out why there was no signal coming to House.
Hours on the phone. Reboots, cable change outs, backup customer owned Modem attempts.
Wasted day.
Then all of a sudden, it all came back. Internet, and all the channels on the TiVo!

No one knows what happened on the Comcast end or will admit, but it all came back fine.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions.
Hopefully we can help someone else.


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

I'd suspect, that if you'd logged in to your Modem, you'd have seen that you still had plenty of signal, just somebody had disabled your account.

-KP


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## JammasterC (Aug 9, 2005)

kpeters59 said:


> I'd suspect, that if you'd logged in to your Modem, you'd have seen that you still had plenty of signal, just somebody had disabled your account.
> 
> -KP


Comcast couldn't even see my equipment. They couldn't do any remote service on the modem.
I could get to the Xfinity Modem Gateway page and see that the Xfinity Network was "Inactive" and had no WAN IP(IPv4) address.
Somehow I was disabled and they couldn't see why.

I'm still accepting their service appointment tomorrow to check out the outside connections.


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## NorthAlabama (Apr 19, 2012)

JammasterC said:


> A phone call to TiVo confirmed that I should get "all" the channels I pay for. Stating that the two Comcast Xfinity store reps were wrong saying the M-Card had channel limitations.


comcast is slowly introducing some channels as iptv (streaming) only (a believe a couple of sports channels at the moment), and it's true, those channels won't work with a cable card, but they will with the xfinity stream app in a browser or android device, or a comcast x1 box (if they're part of your channel lineup). i wouldn't throw out your tivo over it, at least not for many years (if ever).


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

JammasterC said:


> Comcast couldn't even see my equipment. They couldn't do any remote service on the modem.
> I could get to the Xfinity Modem Gateway page and see that the Xfinity Network was "Inactive" and had no WAN IP(IPv4) address.
> Somehow I was disabled and they couldn't see why.
> 
> I'm still accepting their service appointment tomorrow to check out the outside connections.


And all the lights on the Modem were correctly illuminated?

That's odd...

-KP


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## NorthAlabama (Apr 19, 2012)

kpeters59 said:


> And all the Modem's light were correctly illuminated?
> 
> That's odd...


it took comcast an fcc complaint, one week, and three (needless) tech visits to provision my card correctly so i could receive my premium channels, this was nothin'.


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## KevTech (Apr 15, 2014)

Anymore with Comcast I first try the Cablecard activation and Pairing

If that does not work I then call the cablecard number 1-877-405-2298

The normal Comcast reps really have no clue how to deal with cablecards and is why Comcast have a separate number for cablecard users.


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## JammasterC (Aug 9, 2005)

So far really enjoying this TiVo Bolt Vox with its tuners and search abilities. 
Voice is pretty cool too.


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## mattyro7878 (Nov 27, 2014)

Welcome to Tivo!!


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