New York, NY - RCN - Page 10

Is it just me or you guys have the same problem...
My QAM channel for NBC HD(130-2) and FOX HD(130-3) is no where to be found anymore even after rescan...

Do you still have them? If so which channel?

thanks

Anyone know why RCN has so many more HD channel in Boston as opposed to NYC? Is it just $$ for them? Im really pissed RCN is the only choice in my building. They dont even get FSNY or MSG in HD.

I also wish they would add more HD channels...I would like to see them add MSG, USA network, Sci-Fi, CNN and MTV

hopefully a big update will be coming very soon

Are there any rumors or rumblings that this will actually be happening?Technically they should be keeping up with the other providers to stay competitive but I'm not going to hold my breath.

havn't heard anything...Time Warner has around the same number of HD channels here in NY as RCN does...guess all we can do is wait and see

from BusinessWire 01.22.08

New Era in Cable TV is Coming as RCN Starts Today to Go All Digital in Chicago, Reclaiming 80 Analog Channels for New Standard & High Def Channel Launches

HERNDON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RCN Corporation (NASDAQ: RCNI), a leading provider of video, data, and voice services to residential, business and commercial/carrier customers, announced that a new era is coming to Chicago Cable TV when the company today starts switching to all digital TV programming.

This marks a very important step into the future for our Chicago cable customers, said RCN CEO and President Peter Aquino. By reclaiming analog channels, RCN will be leaders in delivering HD and customized cable packages in an all digital world. We have converted the first RCN hub and target completion in the entire Chicago market before the end of spring.

By going all digital and reclaiming this excess spectrum, each analog channel has the ability to be compressed up to 10-to-1 for standard definition and up to 2-to-1 for high definition. With these new advantages, RCN management has recreated its entire cable offering and re-branded its expanded basic offering and digital tier offering as the new Signature and Premiere packages.

The Signature package, formerly with 80 channels, will re-launch with 180 channels for the same price. In addition, Premiere will be more robust with additional HD selections and channel pods to give consumers more flexibility and choice. The channel pods group RCN's Premiere Channel Tier by genre, such as sports, news & information, children and family, and movies and entertainment. The pods provide customers with the ability to pay only for the programming they want to watch.

RCN's all digital strategy puts us in the position to make good on the promise of offering approximately 100 HD channels in the future, McKay added.

The future for Manhattan is a full digital system like Chicago. Only then will they have the bandwidth to add all those stations. RCN hasn't published a timetable for the New York transition, but they are actively switching out customer's older analog boxes with new digital equipment (so encourage your neighbors to trade in their converts sooner than later).

The bigger issue will be price. New channels cost RCN per household and most of RCN's penetration in the New York market is based on discount deals with larger apartment complexes. Those discounts will always make it harder for RCN to pay for programming.

I for one would pay more for more HD content, but not everyone will agree with me.

good stuff!!

100 HD channels in the future sounds nice!

too bad they didn't roll it out in NY first

from LightReading's Cable Digital News

And what about those other RCN systems serving Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., and eastern Pennsylvania? Stay tuned. RCN plans to evaluate its options and make determinations based partly on how things shake out with its existing Federal Communications Commission (FCC) waiver for entry-level Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT - message board) DCT700 set-tops. That waiver is scheduled to expire in July.

Considering the help Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ - message board) and scores of others received under an "Omnibus" waiver awarded last July last year, RCN just might score an extension if it also pledges to migrate the rest of its systems to digital by the February 2009 broadcast TV transition. (See Verizon & Others Get Their Waivers.)

Then all it would have to do is convince the rest of its subs to make the move to digital by early next year. But expect RCN to base that decision on how well, or badly, things go in Chicago.

so we have to wait another year at least to see a substantial increase in HD channels???

ugh - they changed all the channels again. Can everyone post the frequencies (ie: 101.1 = TNT.tv HD) and I'll start compiling a master list again? Since the PPV are all encrypted I should be able to compile the list for everyone.

I haven't experienced any change in channels. Dunno what's going on.

So it seems competition plays a large role in what HD channels RCN adds to their system:

RCN unleashes four new HD options in Boston, Massachusetts
and
RCN Livens Up Bostons HD Lineup Once More

The brief summary: Comcast and RCN compete head to head in the market. Comcast added stations. RCN matched their offering.

So now we have to hope TWC adds channels so RCN counters?

And something else to look forward to...
Smithsonian Gets RCN Deal

Hello. I have free inbuilding CATV with RCN and have analog cable tv with them. I had a digital box but returned it because it kept freezing up.

I wanted to know if there are channels in the clear with QAM with RCN.

Thanks!

I'm in Queens and I just lost all my signal. Wondering if there's an outage in the area. Anybody in the same boat?

Where in Queens are you located? Same problem here in Forest Hills, NY 11375. I have Time Warner Cable for cablemodem and RCN is included with the building for CATV. I switched Cablemodem service after a previous outage and I am glad I did since the system is in the worst shape its ever been in.

I called RCN and there's currently an outage. Well, guess it's time to bring out my rabbit ears antenna LOL. And yes, RCN has about 10 QAM HD channels, just have your TV do a scan and it will find them (I assume your TV has QAM support)

Are all the digital non premium cable channels clear in QAM? I had an RCN box but it kept freezing up and the service quality was horrendous so I returned the box for TV. Would have to purchase a QAM receiver like Samsung 260F to get the channels. Any other recommendations or is this the best of the lot right now for boxes?

My building has a contract with RCN for CATV but RCN sucks and is in poor financial shape. This huge outage came at a time 500 employees are getting layoffs on April 5th. One day, RCN will not come back on, but by then the building will no longer be responsible for paying RCN and I am prewired for Time Warner since I have the cablemodem already. The reason I have RCN at all is because my complex charges for RCN in the building maintanence fee and it has all the channels in analog unencrypted.

View: Annual Data | Quarterly Data All numbers in thousands
PERIOD ENDING 31-Dec-07 30-Sep-07 30-Jun-07 31-Mar-07

Assets
Current Assets
Cash And Cash Equivalents 21,793 33,871 33,600 72,053
Short Term Investments 45,899 79,150 89,526 89,191
Net Receivables 64,681 57,819 55,568 54,037
Inventory - - - -
Other Current Assets 22,799 19,584 26,077 22,211

As you can see, RCN's financials are not well. Compare this to Time Warner Cable which is always hiring for new employees and is growing. Im kinda afraid of buying the box cause of the future of RCN which is uncertain right now.

Time Warner has announced that it will be adding 21 new High-Definition channels in the New York area on April 30...hopefully this will get RCN to start adding some (or even a lot) more HD channels...21 more would be nice

http://www.tvpredictions.com/twhd032408.htm

Do you guys know if I buy a cable box like this from Ebay, will it work with RCN? I am using a QAM turner now, but hope this will map to the right channel.

http://cgi.*********/Scientific-Atla...QQcmdZViewItem

Will I be able to use DVR function?

Thanks!

Only in Queens & Brooklyn not Manhattan. I wonder why Manhattan gets screwed again? I have RCN not T/W but if they offered 21 more HD channels in my building I'd switch in one second as we also have T/W in our building too.
I contacted RCN about their lack of HD programming especially after reading that RCN's Boston & Chicago markets have many more HD channels than we get here in NYC. RCN pretty much responded with a form letter saying they hope to add more HD progamming by the end of the year.

Too little too late for my taste. If T/W adds these channels in Manhattan and RCN doesn't I'll be switching for sure.

1) You're link is broken, but is doesn't really matter because...

2) RCN uses Motorola boxes. No substitution allowed.

3) Any box you try to use will need to be registered with RCN so it can get the proper decryption for pay channels. Not sure about the Clear QAM, but without acknowledgement from RCN, I think you'll still be in the same boat.

4) Most of the "gray market" boxes for sale on eBay are really still owned by a cable company and just got lost in paperwork. If you purchased one of these boxes and called RCN with the number, they would look up the box ID and confirm that the box isn't stolen or lost from Comcast, Verizon, et al. Obviously, it would not be a good thing if they determined it was an illegal box.

It just seems like too much trouble to put your channels in order. You might want to consider making a custom lineup in TitanTV and just using it as your guide/channel map - until they change the order again.

RCN will be out of business for sure. Asset could very well be tied up in bankruptcy litigation for years if a sale in bankruptcy proceedings does not take place.

Can't run a business without cash on hand to pay the bills.

Has anyone rescanned the QAM channels lately? Wondering if there's any change. As of now, here's my list of HD channels available through clear QAM

42-2 TBS HD
87-1 SNY HD
101-1 YES HD
101-3 TNT HD
113-2 NAT GEO HD
119-2 CW 11 HD
122-1 CBS HD
130-2 NBC HD
130-3 FOX HD
131-1 ABC HD
131-2 PBS HD
135-3 - used to be My 9 NY but now no signal

anyone having trouble getting ESPN 2 HD? I use a cable card with my Tivo HD and haven't had ESPN 2 HD for the last 3 days. Calling them right now...

No problems here! I also have a TivoHD with RCN cablecards here in NYC and all channels including ESPN2 work fine.
Maybe you need to have the cablecards re-scanned or have RCN do it.

Is anyone experiencing problems with the QAM local HD channels? I lost CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox etc early this afternoon at about 3:30 or so. Rescanned and they didn't show up. All the other QAM channels are still working fine (including TBS HD and TNT HD). Any one else experiencing this?

They are offline. NBC and FOX are on the same multiplex. The rest are not. Seems to be a RCN issue as the channels are available over the air.

I also had the same issue earlier, but as of now, everything seems to be back up and running as usual.

--Todd

Mine seem to be back up as well...thanks