I was having the same issue, however using this thread I also noticed that in Ubuntu the tuner was set as an audio input device in the control panel. I disabled this access, rebooted and was able to add channels.
Like you i am useing VMware ESXI i have few vm as useing my server for dev bench so wipeing vmware would just be a drag but after doing the following rebooting vm i have found over 100! channel with no issue Great stuff
Do following
wget https://github.com/cernekee/linux-firmware/raw/master/dvb-usb-dib0700-1.20.fw
wget http://palosaari.fi/linux/v4l-dvb/firmware/MN88472/02/latest/dvb-demod-mn88472-02.fw
usermod -a -G video plex
then reboot the machine and it all happy and working
Just to add just seemed like some firmware that not installed
