MSNBC: WHEN?

[mojo191]

Excuse me, but I'd like to know exactly what's holding up Verizon's including MSNBC as a totally available & accessible station in its lineup & how long it's going to take before you make it totally available & accessible to viewers.  It's my favorite station and, though there are some others I like, I experience your failure to make it available as a sufficient hardship to make me contemplate eventually dropping your TV service and just keeping your phone & FIOS internet service.

I'd appreciate the courtesy of a response to my question & in the event that you might not be in the position, or the degree of authority, to be able to give me a satisfactory response, then I'd like the contact information of someone who has the requisite authority to resolve this question definitively, such as the CEO of Verizon FIOS, so that I can take the matter up with him, or her, directly.

Thanking you for your courteous attention and awaiting your response, I am,

Monty J. Renov

[MercerNick65]

I see you are in the Bronx ... Well, Cablevision has an exclusive carriage agreement for MSNBC in NY and Northern NJ in any Cablevision area.  Google it and you'll find much more information about it.

[Caps09]

Cablevision would LOVE for you drop FiOS and return to them, so they won't let Verizon carry MSNBC as long as they can get away with it. For local sports, Cablevision won't let Verizon carry MSG HD, only the SD version. They get around letting anyone else have the HD version by distributing it terrestrially. To sum it up, you can call Cablevision and tell them that you want these channels, but their answer will be to get TV service from them. Verizon has action pending with the FCC trying get access to these channels, but as we know these will take a while to resolve.

[spacedebris]

take a look at this thread

http://forums.verizon.com/t5/FiOS-TV-Programming/Petitions-to-get-MSNBC-on-FIOS/td-p/40700

One of the last posts on it includes a link to an article regarding this issue. I havent found anything more recent but this will give you an idea of what is going on.

[spacedebris]

And for anyone that is interested, it looks like ATT is now jumping in as well. According to this article

http://www.xchangemag.com/articles/525/att-complains-to-fcc-about-cablevision.html

ATT just filed a similar complaint to the one Verizon filed earler this summer. Maybe the additional complaints may get the FCC to act. But from the sounds of it, the FCC is not likely to even respond to the complaints until the end of the year. From the sounds of things this is not likely to go anywhere or get any solutions, but at least they are trying.

[Freyjabj]

I am in Brooklyn NY and just switched from Time Warner Cable.  Since I am not in a Comcast zone why would we be locked out from MSNBC too?

[Stevef3NJ]

I live in a Comcast area in North New Jersey.  We finally got MSNBC several months ago.  I know they are rolling it out little by little.  Only those in the Cablevision area will have a long wait.

[spacedebris]

Its not Comcast area's that are affected, its Cablevision. The problem is that in NY (NYC geographic area) and Northern NJ, the Verizon and Cablevison Territories overlap. Therefore Verizon is not legally allowed to carry MSNBC in those areas. Verizon has filed a complaint with the FCC over this but from what I've read, the FCC is unlikely to take action.

So unless cablevision releases its exclusive contract (snowball in hell comes to mind) or the FCC takes action (doesnt look good at this time) then Verizon is unlikely to be able to carry this channel at least for the foreseeable future.

[extremesis]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Msnbc

(check the carriage issues about 1/3 the way down)