Child Item

Site Totals

61560 Questions Answered 271 Categories

Why add NESN to FIOS TV without Red Sox games?

I noticed recently that NESN, the New England Sports Network, was added to the sports package on Ch. 97. But when the guide listed Red Sox games as being on, instead a call-in radio show was broadcast. When I contacted NESN about this, they claim they are a regional network and not able to broadcast Red Sox games out of a certain area of New England. So I'm wondering why would FIOS add this channel, when really the main feature for New Yorkers would be to watch those games, which are blacked out here for some reason. WGN broadcasts Cubs and White Sox games, and TBS used to show Braves games nationally, why add a regional channel that can't show its main component?

Comments

ansky201

This is just a national feed of the network. I guess they think there is interest outside of New England. If you're a Red Sox fan in the NY area now you can watch pre and post game shows to supplement the games on MLB EI.

YES network does the same thing. I know people in New England, Maryland, and California that get YES network without the Yankees games.

To answer your question about WGN, the Cubs and White Sox games you see are on WGN America which is a national network and these teams have contracts to broadcast their games nationally.

eiVaL

you complain about NESN yet its right next to 96 SNY which also is nationwide...and makes even less sense but all of these stations have programming that their fans will want to watch, i will admit that SNY being nationwide is clearly only a PR attempt by the Mets to try to not be upstaged by the Yankees(who were doing this 10 years+ ago before anyone) when clearly not even their immediate fan base cares during a winning season to show up to the stadium..but NESN isnt just the Red Sox it serves the entire Boston area sports, so fans can check in for direct news about the Patriots, Celtics, Red Sox or Bruins plus i see they have their morning radio show on, ill check that out cause i cant stand the corporate style of Mike and Mike on ESPN and i really miss Boomer and Carton on MSG which im surprised isnt availible nationwide already, atleast in SD since ive lived in the tri-state area and know about Dolan's attempts to keep MSG HD exclusive to Cablevision, but id happily add the SD just for their show

i keep waiting for the Dallas Cowboys to start up their own TV network, their net worth is just as much as the Yankees and have just as large of a fanbase across the country not just regionally but im guessing perhaps the NFL is some how contractually barring them or any other team for what ever reason, cause if Texas University can operate their own individual network i dont see why the Cowboys couldnt and you know Jerry Jones isnt one to shy away from the TV all those Michael Irvin reality tryout shows on FX and HBO hardknocks could be yearly.

Ana_VZ

Hi everyone! Looks like we have some big sports fans here! Verizon strives to bring you the most content possible, including NESN. While they may not show the Red Sox games, they do offer a lot of other great content we think New England sports fans would enjoy.

If you’re looking to talk more sports, you should check out @VZSports on Twitter. He's a big sports fanatic as well, and always has great insights and news to share!

-@VZCommunity

JohnGe

Does anyone know if NESN will have the Patriot games. Or will they also be blacked out? Soooo disappointed. Was so excited that we could watch red sox games. What a rip-off. Guess they want us to subscribe to MLB now about $140 for rest of season.

johnmcgann

The New England Patriots are not broadcast on NESN at all.. The local CBS affiliate, WBZ-TV is their local outlet.

eiVaL

theres no short cut to out-of-market sports

these channels are owned and opperated by major sports clubs who have a large enough fan base to merit distributing it across the nation so the fans can see the pre game, the post game and all the other secondary programming which is geared just for the teams in that region rather than having to watch ESPN which only spends a fraction of time on each team.

if you want to watch out-of-market games, you know you need to buy the season package, this is nothign new, the Sunday Ticket has been around since the mid-90s...20 years, if you're a fan of a major market team you're now beginning to see their regional networks broadcast outside of the region as more and more teams start to own their own stations like the Yankees did 10 years ago.

if you live in NY you dont need to buy anything cause the YES Network is regional and so are the games, if you move away, you have to buy MLB.tv, but thats not going to give you the channel, now we have the option to get the channel and the games. and thats what now Boston fans get the option to do, before this year all they got was the games on NBA League Pass or MLB.tv or whatever time the NFL Netork and ESPN spends on the Pats...now before and after games they can just watch NESN to see all the stuff on their teams rather than wait for Sportscenter's 10 second highlights of the game

joecct771

MLB, NHL, MLS, and the NBA all have their own in-season broadcast channels called Extra Innings, Center Ice, etc. You need to subscribe to them in order to get out of market professional games.

However with NESN we will get Hockey East (college hockey), the Bruins & Sox pre and post game shows, minor league baseball and Dennis & Callahan (if you can stand them).

The Boston Comcast Sports network is heavy into the Celtics and Pats but has a wonderful baseball show on Saturday mornings that I miss when I switched from DirecTV to FIOS.

Any chance of NESN moving into the HD channels?? (Hint Hint 🙂 )

edhickey773

How does DirecTV manage to broadcast NESN including the Red Sox games but not Verizon?

Caps09

If you live outside the Red Sox TV region, DirecTV has thier games ONLY if you subscribe to their "sports pass" and "MLB Extra Innings". Sports pass gets you the NESN programming, and MLBEI gets you the games. The big advantage that DTV has is that it is "seamless", no switching to a certain group of channels to watch either one. You can but the games from Verizon with MLBEI, but because of the way their channels are set up, you would have to change to the game channel once the game comes on.

Child Item