Shows on at wrong time

[Jonaaronpaulsen]

I have tried multiple times to contact comcast to get this issue resolved but have been unable to.. Primetime shows on Discovery and HGTV (I'm sure others too, but those are the ones I know) are on later than expected, it is like my account is set to the wrong time zone. Have others experienced this and been able to get it resolved?

[ThatDonGuy]

Questions:
1. Have you checked the schedule to see what time the shows that did get recorded were supposed to air (i.e. how much of a "time shift" is there)?

2. Is this SD or HD? If you get both versions of Discovery, have you tried recording a show simultaneously on both to see if both versions have this problem?

[CCAndrew]

What time zone are you in? It’s possible you had east coast feeds and were switched to west coast feeds

[Jonaaronpaulsen]

I'm in the mountain time zone.

[Jonaaronpaulsen]

Also it's not just recordings, if I go to the guide, the programming I expect at 7 pm, isn't on until 9 pm. This happens on both the SD and HD versions. For example, the new "love it or list it" episodes show up at 9 pm and 10 pm on Monday, but with DirecTV they were on at 7pm and 9pm.

[Jonaaronpaulsen]

Normally, when a station says a show is on at 9/8 central, I expect it on at 8 or possibly 7. It seems on comcast it shows up at 9. Is it different by provider?

[ThatDonGuy]

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@Jonaaronpaulsen wrote:
Normally, when a station says a show is on at 9/8 central, I expect it on at 8 or possibly 7. It seems on comcast it shows up at 9. Is it different by provider?

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It shouldn't be. Most stations have two feeds - an Eastern feed, and a Pacific (or Western) feed. If you are getting the Eastern feed, a show on at "9, 8 Central" would be on at 7:00; if you are getting the Pacific feed, it would be on at 10:00. The main exception is broadcast networks, which usually use the Central time listed for the Mountain time zone.

[Jonaaronpaulsen]

Ok, that makes a lot of sense. So it seems I am getting the Pacific stream where I am used to getting the Eastern. Do you know how I can change it? The broadcast networks seem to be showing things at the time I am used to.

[ThatDonGuy]

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@Jonaaronpaulsen wrote:
Ok, that makes a lot of sense. So it seems I am getting the Pacific stream where I am used to getting the Eastern. Do you know how I can change it? The broadcast networks seem to be showing things at the time I am used to.

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Move out east somewhere?  🙂
Seriously, you can't, and it's not just Comcast that does this. Too many people complain when a show they want to watch is on "two hours too early" because they live out west and only the Eastern feed is available. I'm not quite sure what the reason is for nobody having both feeds of their station available (except, I think, Nickelodeon in SD); I think it has something to do with local advertisers not wanting to have to buy twice as many commercials.

[Jonaaronpaulsen]

Well I guess it looks to me like I'm getting the west stream so my shows are on later than they were when I had DirecTV. I prefer the earlier showings that I had before.

[Jonaaronpaulsen]

Are you saying that me getting the west coast feed is the correct one? I don't understand why that would be, and I'm positive that it wasn't like that for DirecTV. Take for example tonight, the food network had Halloween Wars on at 9/8 central. For us in the mountain time zone, we don't get this until 10 pm? Doesn't make sense to have prime time programming on so late.

[SanDiegoInExile]

It really doesnt matter what you *had* with DirecTV.  That's an entirely different company with an entirely different set of contractual obligations with each cable network.

I recall that it was a few years ago when Comcast xFinity transitioned the Mountain Time Zone to West Coast feeds.  Caused plenty of turmoil, but that was what the cable channels and xFinity negotiated.

If you want east coast feeds, many of the streaming and satellite options still provide that.

[ThatDonGuy · Accepted solution]

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@Jonaaronpaulsen wrote:
Are you saying that me getting the west coast feed is the correct one? I don't understand why that would be, and I'm positive that it wasn't like that for DirecTV. Take for example tonight, the food network had Halloween Wars on at 9/8 central. For us in the mountain time zone, we don't get this until 10 pm? Doesn't make sense to have prime time programming on so late.

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Does it make that much more sense to have a show on at 8/7 Central air at 6:00?

I'm not entirely sure who makes the decision as to which feed to use. I remember when U-Verse switched most of its east coast HD feeds to west coast, but, for whatever reason, TBS and TNT have both available, so it's not necessarily the cable company being forced to choose one or the other.
Also (and somebody correct me if I have this wrong), Comcast uses a "send every channel the viewer can access to the box, and have the box decide which one to send to the TV" system, so the more channels/feeds that are available, the more it has to compress the signal to get all of the channels to you, which could be one reason it would want to limit how many feeds you can get.

[Jonaaronpaulsen]

I see, that all makes sense, and if I were a provider I would want my prime time on during 6 to 9 in the mountain time zone not 9 to midnight, but that is just my opinion of course. Thanks for all of the information, it has been very helpful.