YouTube TV loses NESN
 

Last night I had something pop up and say NESN is no longer on my YouTube TV. My question is, what does everyone else use for streaming and does it include NESN? No NESN will be a deal breaker once hockey season starts again.

We just switched from Cable to YouTube TV because it had all that we watched, NESN was the big one. We are not trying to also figure out what to do. Hopefully they get the contract back.

Definitely a bummer, loved the simplicity of recording games on YouTube TV.
Looks like only streaming services still carrying NESN are Fubu TV and AT&T NOW. https://www.engadget.com/nesn-youtube-tv-065400041.html

With it being offseason for baseball and hockey there is time for a deal to be made...Fingers crossed.

NESN is available via ROKU. I assume it is not free but if you want it that bad it is an option to get it directly through their channel streaming app.

Directv\AT&Ttv NOW carries it, I just noticed it was added to my package a couple months ago. The only thing I would say there is that I have had their service for a while now and grandfathered on an older package with a locked in rate, I don't think they are competitively priced per say but the content and service itself is as good as what I had with them via satellite dish.

You can also stream hockey games live and for free here: http://www.nhlstream.net/

Can even pick which feed you want, home or away. I use it all the time as I follow a different team. 99% of the time the free stream is in HD so it makes little sense to pay for it. I stream it over my laptop and output via HDMI cable into my TV. Works great! I do not know if this may be subject to blackout for local teams.... although I have watched games on it where my team was playing the B's.

I contacted NESN directly and complained. I also contacted YouTubeTv and bitched them out. I love YouTubeTV, but this was not what I had expected. So I encourage everyone to contact YouTubeTV directly. Log on to your account and where there is a picture in the upper right corner, click on it and there is a pick for feedback. DO IT NOW !!!! They need to hear from us. You can do the same thing by Google on NESN. There is a spot for feedback. We need to encourage folks to get back to the negotiation table. After all, we got hit with a 30% up-charge on YouTubeTV when they added a bunch of junk programs s few months ago, only to get screwed with loosing a valuable channel. Will they reduce our cost...NO WAY. So bitch NOW !!!!

Once you cut cable these platforms get leverage & use it just like the big boys do. There is no long-term bargain. Netflix just went up again. It's like a dog chasing its tail.

I was doing a little searching today. Apparently the RSN's (Regional Sports Networks) are having contracts changed. With no Red Sox and No Bruins right now, YouTubeTV can pocket at least two months of fees that they would normally pay NESN until those teams get back to playing. It is like paying for a service where the major component are not active. Usually this is not a problem since one sports season ends and the other begins. But with COVID, things are different. So if Bruins do not play until sometime in December or later, I think that YouTubeTV may suddenly get a contract negotiated at the point the season begins. But it does make financial sense from their end to pocket a couple of months of fees that would otherwise go to NESN. Might piss off a few customers (me, as colleges are off the channel as well) but probably not result in much of a business loss. Interesting thought.....let's see how thing play out.

NESN is available on the FUBO streaming service. They provide a very large number of channels with three simultaneous streams. Not cheap.

There is also a Roku app for NESN... the catch is you need to be a cable subscriber to use it.

You might think, in this age of cable-cutting, that those who provide content to the cable companies would offer direct streaming over Roku, Firestick, and phone apps. You would be wrong

It's probably not worth it to them (NESN) to have a way to do direct to customer broadcasting as it costs money to have a means to process access fees and maintain subscriptions and broadcast content, nevermind in HD and reliably. That capability is VERY expensive and I doubt they could cut a profit on it. See everyone wants this stuff for "free".

The major carriers and streaming services are not going to fall over backwards to negotiate deals with local content providers. They don't care nor really have to either. Same goes for local channels such as ABC, NBC, CSB etc.... Do you really think that 90+% of the youtube tv subscribers out there across the country even know what NESN is? Or care? NOPE!

At the same time you could also say the teams themselves are stupid to sign exclusive broadcast rights away to anyone.

NESN is 80% owned by Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Red Sox (and also Liverpool Football Club) and 20% owned by Delaware North, which owns the TD Garden.

I agree with the post above... doesn't make sense for them to carry this at the moment with no live sports. The value vs expense is not there until they come back. I am more aggravated by the $15 increase in the monthly charge for Youtube up to $65. The $50 a month seemed like a great value at $65 per month and probably a continued climb this is feeling more and more like the cable companies. Hulu Live at min looks to be comparable and is currently $55 per month.

..... omg..... no more Tennis Channel ..... gonzo!
 

Oopsie-doopsie ...... looks like the Tennis Channel with it's familiar mid-court T-tennis logo withing a green circle has done left the You Tube tv-building ..... no more tennis channel on the $65/month-You Tube ..... at least not until they irons out that their money issues, or something.

Sinclair Broadcasting purchased Tennis Channel maybe two-three years ago, and they will do things like run an advertisement over the first 0-15 point in a big name game to maximize their revenue, and then pick up the already, in-play, game ...... so totally outrageous! ..... :fire: .... having to watch another television advertisement vs. watching Camila Giorgi totally attack her tennis game!

..... oh well .... that's the way the tennis ball bounces? ..... :rolleye1:

They have 3 more days to get NESN back on YouTube TV before the B's start up. I looked into getting the NHL app to watch games..... $85 for one team for the season!!

We dropped YouTube TV because of NESN. We then signed up with FuboTV, which has NESN. I'm looking forward to watching the Bruins games again.

Have contacted NESN and YouTubeTV a few times in the last month requesting they get this channel back. They both responded but nothing looks good. So they just pocketed the fee that was built into the $65 monthly charge. More corporate greed. How does that make you fee??? Makes me very upset. Will look at Fubu

Have dealt with this same issue using DISH the past four years. Lost Boston 25 for most of the past summer. No no longer get Boston 7. NFL channel came back when the season was about to begin. With that said, just don’t know which is the better evil.


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I hate to just bounce around and changing all the time. Looked at Fubo and not sure I can get WMUR. Tradeoffs everywhere. Did dump cable since I had it at MA and NH houses. Saved $1100 per year going to just YouTubeTV and we are overall satisfied with their offerings and quality. But NESN seemed like a penalty shot to us. And with the increase last year along with a bunch of crap channels, it seemed particularly hurtful.

Todd,

Can you watch this on a smart TV or is it only on your phone/tablet?

You can stream any NHL game online for free.

https://nhl-stream.com/

So click on any game - the top screen is the "HD" broadcast which you have to buy a subscription for. Don't click on that one, click on the bottom one. That one is free and although they say it's not HD it 99% of the time it is. I stream this fill screen on my laptop and output it via HDMI to my TV. Works fantastic and the picture excellent if you have a good computer or laptop to stream from.

It always defaults to the HD top link cause they are trying to sell you a subscription that you don't need.

Streams start in 10 or 15 minutes before game time, you can pick which feed you want, home or away and usually the post game is broadcast as well.

;)

The NHL app is for anything that has the app, so my FireStick has it and I can get it for computer or phone too.

MAXUM: Thanks for the link, will definitely will try that on Thursday seeing it doesn't look good for NESN. I actually liked listening on XM to the "Home" team announcers when the Bruins are away. Gives a different outlook on the team and what other teams are thinking about us.

Yeah give it a whirl. I don't know if they may try to block you from streaming the game if they detect you are local. I'm not a Bruins fan so the only time I have seen them play is the two times a year the B's play the Avs. I've never had any trouble watching those games on the Altitude TV feed.

Nice to have hockey back finally. Good luck to your B's

Worst case I'd dump youtube and pick up FUBO.

This was just posted 1/13/2020 on Boston Globe web site
 

Here is the link. Does not sound too optimistic from NESN point of view.


https://www.boston.com/sports/media/...eaming-service

If you do make a switch, who is to say the service you choose won’t have the same issue a few months from now. My plan is to go only WiFi and apps subscriptions once Dish is done. Pluto is free and has many channels. A few are live, like news and sports. They also have a Johnny Carson channel. Don’t laugh, falling to sleep listening to Ed and John is not a bad thing


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We were getting Carson on the rabbit ears (digital antenna) on the Island last summer. I always liked Johnny....

Let's get active and FIGHT BACK !!
 

Got this form (attached below) directly from YouTubeTV....If we want NESN back on, they suggest we send this form in. Fill in that you want NESN back and why. Then email it directly to YouTube. I've already mailed my request.

https://support.google.com/youtubetv...ct/new_network

Sent mine
 

Sent mine. End line;

DO YOUR JOB and bring NESN back.

Dave

I got a similar form from YouTube-TV today and I replied how much I miss watching the Tennis Channel which got pulled off YouTube-TV on December 1 by Sinclair Broadcasting. Sinclair has made no public announcement about this and has some plans to hook Tennis Channel up with a sports betting venue, or something.

I miss the Tennis Channel and just watch Tennis Channel shorts on YouTube-Video until this malfeasance is corrected which will probably not be happening.

Sinclair is somewhat like that no good, Boris Badenov, is totally rotten to its' core ....... hooking the Tennis Channel up with a sports betting venue ...... Sinclair ...... is SO no-good!

Sent in my form also. I watched last nights game on a free trial of Fubo. Might just have to get that for hockey season.

Watched some of Thursday's game on this website on the TV. It was on/off grainy. Not too bad if your just listening and not really watching. Got my friend's cable sign-in and logged into NESN.com and watched the local broadcast and it seemed to buffer a lot. I think that it's because I'm going through the websites and not the apps (Firestick does not have the NESN app).
I might be switching to FUBO sooner than later, hate switching around but did notice FUBO has DIY network which my wife does miss not having, but not bad enough to have done anything about it.
Go B's!!!

That on\off grainy look is probably because you don't have sufficient bandwidith to hold a full HD signal or what you are streaming through can't keep up. Usually it's the first. Remember that although you have say 100 MBPS service, that is not the minimum but the maximum on a good day with no congestion and 99% of the time you will realize only a fraction of that.

I've watched a couple games so far and it was all HD, however again I'm going through my laptop out to the TV and my laptop is a high end business class machine.

Anyways... FUBO is a great option for you and frankly the best deal out there. Good luck!

Also looked into Fubo. It has some quirky things if you want to use it at two locations. Also noted that WMUR was not on the channel liost when using a NH zip code but it was on the list if using a MA zip code. I do not understand that. And some have said DIY is on Fubo, but I think it is an extra charge. So Fubo needs a lot more research!!

I am going to hang in there a little while longer with YTTV....I keep emailing them every time I miss a Bruins game. Let's keep the pressure on them. They nuked over 20 Regional Sports networks, so I am sure they are getting a lot of anger. I am optimistic that NESN will get re-added eventually......

Maxum: I stream everything else in HD on my TV and there are no issues. It seams if I'm going through a website on the TV that it is grainy. What that means? I don't know?

I thought it was interesting and kind of funny that Jack Edwards at the beginning of the game yesterday called YouTube TV out and told people to "tell your friends that they have other options and to change over to another so they can get NESN by going to GetNESN.com"

Streaming something off a website through an online media player is far different than streaming TV via an optimized app on a platform designed for a specific endpoint such as a streaming stick or TV OS. It's comparing apples and oranges and why the performance you see is so different than what I see via a laptop. My laptop is doing the work and outputting a nice clean HD signal all my TV has to do is display.

Sure you can attempt to stream web content like that with a TV but the TV doesn't have the capabilities a computer does, not even close.

I understand all that, This is why I was saying that I wish there was a NESN app on the Firestick.

That costs a ton of money to develop and maintain. The reason why NESN doesn't do this is it's better for them to use somebody else for distribution instead of taking on significant expense to do it themselves. Problem is they haven't yet figured out that as the streaming world takes shape they need to adjust or go out of business. YTTV clearly doesn't care if NESN is part of their programming or not. Probably because the total amount of YTTV subscribers that even care about NESN programming is insignificant enough to remove them from the platform. In other words NESN needs YTTV not the other way around.

Maybe they get it resolved, who knows. These disputes happen all the time.

I disagree with that, if YTTV doesn't play ball will local programming stations, they could find themselves on thin ice in short order. National television is great but you need to carry local broadcasting networks too. As more and more people are starting to step away from cable and dish the more completive streaming television will become, YTTV could find themselves on the short end of the stick rather quickly if they don't fix it.

Learned a few interesting things today. YTTV cancelled 19 Regional Sports Channels because they could not cut a deal with Fox Sports that owned them. So in one hit, YTTV lost all 19. NESN is different...it si 80% owned by Fenway Sport Group (Red Sox /John Henry) and 20% owned by Delaware North (Bruins). So it is off by itself in the discussions with YTTV. Even if they cut a deal with Fox, NESN would still be off the air unless they can cut a deal with Fenway/Delaware. I have written four emails today...one each to YTTV, NESN, Fenway Sports, and Delaware North. I suspect all will end up in the trash, but at least it felt good to try. Does not make sense to me that the owners would not want to put some sort of a deal together, as they would make up lost revenue from YTTV plus they would get more advertising revenue from all their ads with an increase in subscribers....a double win with no increase in costs. And there are a lot of mad people out there, which does not help in the pandemic. Even spring training and the Red Sox isn't that far off that a deal should be avoided. Need someone to be the adult in the room!!!

Good point but you are forgetting there is not a major incentive for Fenway/Delaware as you can go direct to MLB.tv and NHL.com to get your games and it the end they would have more revenue per subscriber

When I looked at the NHL app on my ROKU it said It was subject to blackout in local markets. I assume that means NESN territory.

I would imagine the blackout rules are the same (or close to the same) as TV. There's been a lot of National televised games for the Bruins in the past but NESN covered the game for the region, meaning we got different programing on NBC Sports, than what they were airing for the rest of the country.

It shouldn’t if you use your computer

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Not true. When my nephew was in the Navy and was stationed in CT, he got the NHL package on line and some Bruins games were blacked out for him. The computer can tell where you are from your IP address.

You probably can bypass this using a VPN like NordVPN and selecting a connection out of the blacked out zone. I've never tried but should work.

What Whimsey said..... get a VPN like Nord or Express!


Woodsy

Now fubu is to begin charging an extra $5 monthly fee to all customers for access to NESN, regardless if you watch it. Still no movement at YouTubeTV.

https://www.boston.com/sports/media/...-5-monthly-fee

That sucks. Sports are about the only thing I watch live anymore (or care to) and losing NESN is a big hit to YT. Sounds like they haven't made any progress as far as getting it back either.