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Maybe it's just as well Verizon never rolled out FiOS in Boston
By adamg on Thu, 11/27/2014 - 6:49pm
Verizon dropped the local Fox affiliate from its Boston-area system today in some sort of contract dispute, meaning lots of people outside Boston didn't get to watch football. Except for a tiny sliver of Dorchester, Verizon never cabled up Boston, in part due to a long-running dispute with Tom Menino and now the company has stopped expanding its service anyway.
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Tweet was deleted?
I get a Twitter 'Not Found' error from your link.
Also, Fox25 comes in just fine with an antenna. No cable or FiOS needed.
What's antenna
What's antenna
Something used by people
Something used by people lucky enough to have a clear signal path to the transmitters in Needham.
Antenna
I dumped Crapcast cable television late last year and haven't really looked back. I really don't miss it very much, except when I am stuck at home for an extended period (sick, snow, etc) when I'd watch a ton more TV than normal (mostly L&O Marathons). But other than that, really don't miss it and the hefty bill it came with.
I've had a TERK powered indoor antenna for several years, and it's worked wonders. I'm in Chelsea and I have the city in my 'view' of the Needham transmission center(s) (WFXT in one, WCVB/WBZ/WGBH/WSBK in the other), however I still manage to get all the stations. Every so often it will 'cut out' with digital garbage but 99% of the time it's clear. It would be better if I could angle the TERK just a few more degrees SSW and it would be probably be perfect, but I'm too lazy (nor watch enough OTA TV to care) to mount a shelf to do that.
But yes an antenna works and works well. Also using antennaweb.org and a compass really helps you adjust the antenna to get the right signal at your location. It's digital so either you get the signal, or you don't. No more staticy/shadowy channels, it's crystal clear or nada.
And if you can put an antenna on your roof. You're pretty much golden. And they aren't the big honking ones from the 70s anymore, they are TINY and can be mounted on a chimney.
People poo poo antennas because of ease of cable TV, but the technology, especially with digital TV now, has come a long way. The antenna's are a lot smaller & more powerful, and the picture quality is so much better (and often looks better than your cable tv provider!). And... it's totally free! Try it. You'll be amazed at how many crystal clear stations you can get.
Antennas only broadcast the
Antennas only broadcast the major networks, though, right? FOX/ABC/CBS/NBC? No specialty channels like Food, Travel, Discovery?
PBS yes, NESN no
An antenna will get you PBS as well. But it won't get you NESN, so no Sox or Bruins games, if that's important.
Yeah pretty much
But for example many "network stations" have digital subs, so you can get 2,3,4 channels from one station.
WGBH is great for this, so you'll get:
2.1 Main WGBH programming / PBS
2.2 WGBH World
44.1 WGBX 44 HD (Typically better hightlights of rebroadcasts of 2.1's programming)
44.3 WGBH Create
44.4 'GBH Kids (aka "PBS Kids")
Comercial stations have digital subs too.. WCVB has 5.2 which is MeTV, WHDH has 7.2 ThisTV, WBZ has 4.2 "Decades"., WFXT has 25.2 "Movies!"
All channels included (including spanish, infomercial, and home shopping), I get around 25 or so channels. Not to bad for free.
The only channel I miss that I had with cable (local wise) that I can't get with an antenna is WBIN (ex-WNDS). Maybe some day when I put an antenna on the roof.
WBZ subchannel 4.2?
If this subchannel exists, I have never been able to detect or receive it. I have no trouble receiving 5.2, 7.2, 25.2, or the various WGBH/WGBX subchannels.
It's like if Al Queda fought ISIS *
From my perspective, there are no good guys and no matter who wins, I have the feeling we'll all lose in the end.
* Yes, I know it's not a great analogy, but close enough.
Who dropped whom?
It was my understanding that the new ownership group of the FOX affiliate was asking for increased fees and Verizon didn't agree to them, so it was the FOX affiliate that pulled their programing, not Verizon.
But I may have it backwards.
Verizon dropped the station,
Verizon dropped the station, if you view then as a client/customer and F25 as a vendor. I believe this stemmed from the recent sale of the station from Fox to Cox, causing Verizon to have to negotiate a contract with F25/Cox owners to keep the station in their lineup, 25 said they wanted X amount in the new contract, Verizon said no way.
Its like walking into a store and the price of the item you want to buy has suddenly increased. If you choose not to buy it because of the new price, the store did cause that to happen, but you still made the decision to not purchase the item.
Except that there is no
legitimate reason for Fox 25 (or any station) to charge a price for Verizon to carry its signal.
"Rebroadcast Fee" = Extortion. Plain and simple.
WFXT - FiOS
From one of the articles on the web..." Cox said it is asking for less than one-third of the roughly $6-per-month that Verizon reportedly pays per subscriber for ESPN." Cox is the new owner of Fox25 and in their contract renewal with Vz it seems like they're asking for more money and Vz isn't willing to pay them the amount they're asking for.The WSJ put out an article recently on the topic of fees. You can read it here http://blogs.wsj.com/numbers/how-much-cable-subscribers-pay-per-channel-...
Eagles 33 Cowboys 10
Eagles 33 Cowboys 10 Halftime show was Pitball bouncing around like the Energizer Rabbit.
long-running dispute with Tom Menino
Oh yeah, the ass kissers forgot about that one.
This Menino ass-kisser didn't
This Menino ass-kisser didn't forget, he's calling bullshit that it ever happened.
The only references I can find other than commenters going on about it here simply report that Verizon did not want to pay the city fees similar to the ones that Comcast and RCN had already paid.
We had a huge argument about it here:
http://www.universalhub.com/2014/citizen-complaint-day-comcast-should-be...
Huge?
I wouldn't even consider that a big argument
Thanks for the trip down memory lane
I wasn't in the battle on that post, but let's just say for the sake of holiday peace that there is a difference of opinion about whether it was Verizon or the City of Boston that were to blame on that one. You were on one side and others were on the other. Suffice to say, we don't get FIOS in Boston.
That said, you have changed the arguments. For those not inclined to click, it was Verizon not wanting to wire the whole city and Menino saying on versus Verizon being willing to wire the whole city in return for the City supporting changes in the law that would benefit Verizon.
If you can't pick up 25
on the antenna try 64.1 it's the Fox outlet in RI.
If you don't mind Spanish
You can get this station just fine on FIOS - just tune to the Spanish broadcast on 1521.
Younger son: