Alexa can tune to a channel number, but not a network name

[unconscious]

I tried rebooting everything, and the same thing happens. If I say,
"Alexa tune to channel 6", she does so. If I say,
"Alexa tune to ABC", she says "tuning to abc on fios. i couldnt find that on fios"

Any ideas? Thanks!

[renegade600]

 you really did not say what you are trying to do.  are you trying to get the local abc streaming station or the news?

[unconscious]

Sorry, I did not mention some stuff
I've setup the fios skill for Alexa.

She will correctly tune my fios box to a given channel number, but she cannot tune to a network name.

[renegade600]

abc might be too generic since a lot of channels share the name. 

[jwlv]

According to the FIOS skill, you should be able to ask for a station by name. In fact, the skill description gave a samples of what you could say, "Alexa, switch to CNN" and "Alexa, go to NBC" and "Alexa, change to channel 899."

Maybe it just has trouble with ABC. Try some other station names such as the samples above.

One thing to note, your command was "tune to xxxx" and the sample commands from the skill description is "switch to xxxx", "go to xxxx", and "change to xxxx." I don't know if that makes any difference. It shouldn't, but who knows.

[unconscious]

Thanks for the responses. I've tried those other commands along with a dozen network names.

It's like when your browser doesn't understand a URL because of a DNS problem. A URL with numbers only will work, so long as it's a valid address. But without the mapping from name to number, it cannot work.

It's also unusual that no one else seems to have this problem (based on Google searches)

[unconscious]

I tried many other networks, and so far Alexa will recognize and tune only to  WGN.

For other networks, Alexa will acknowlege the network you mention, tell you what is currently playing (often incorrectly), and say "I couldn't find that on FIOS", even though a real network with what is currently playing is relayed.

She can pause and play live video properly.

I renamed the fios box from unknown_fios_device to Living-Room; same results.

[Drwoodr]

I had the same issue with my Harmony hub, the alexa routines didn’t like anything with initials. “Watch Netflix”, “watch Hulu”, etc all worked, but “watch HBO” or “watch abc” did not.

[scottrods]

I had the same issue with my Harmony hub, the alexa routines didn’t like anything with initials. “Watch Netflix”, “watch Hulu”, etc all worked, but “watch HBO” or “watch abc” did not.

I remember setting up some of my Harmony stuff by phonetic spellings... AYBEESEE, etc... once I did that I got the stuff to work Pretty well. Takes some tuning but I think the idea is there. Give it a try at least. You can customize names of just about anything through the Harmony Hubs... and if that gives you too much trouble, I know you can do similar with the YONOMI app and the hub as well.

[jwlv]

I remember setting up some of my Harmony stuff by phonetic spellings... AYBEESEE, etc... once I did that I got the stuff to work Pretty well. Takes some tuning but I think the idea is there. Give it a try at least. You can customize names of just about anything through the Harmony Hubs... and if that gives you too much trouble, I know you can do similar with the YONOMI app and the hub as well.

That actually sounds like a good idea. Perhaps Alexa/Harmony is trying to pronounce the station name instead of reading it as 3 separate letters. Trying to pronounce ABC as one word would probably sound like "abbeck."