Subscribers for the Xfinity Popular TV basic cable television package in the New England region will be unable to access the NESN and NBC Sports Boston regional sports networks starting on Tuesday unless they upgrade to the Ultimate TV premium package. Although Popular TV subscribers will now be paying less, sports fans will need to upgrade to continue watching Bruins, Celtics and Red Sox games, resulting in a monthly price increase of $20 plus a $15 RSN fee. Greg Hill, however, expressed that he is annoyed that he is going to need to pay more if he wants to watch a Bruins game.
“We’re pleased to have reached agreements with NBC Sports Boston and NESN and appreciate them working with us to continue offering their networks in a way that reflects the changing video marketplace for local sports and provides our customers with a choice,” Comcast said in a statement. “We are notifying customers that effective January 14, 2025, NBC Sports Boston and NESN will be available on the Ultimate TV level of service. While the majority of customers shouldn’t be impacted, we have promotional offers for customers with Popular TV service who want to continue receiving NBC Sports Boston and NESN.”
During the Monday edition of The Greg Hill Show on WEEI, Hill explained that he has remained a cable subscriber and has noticed that the fees continue to be bumped up. Comcast and Xfinity had about 920,000 cable subscribers in the state of Massachusetts at the end of 2023, according to data from Mass.gov. Chad Finn of the Boston Globe added that an Xfinity spokesperson divulged that most of its subscribers are Ultimate TV package members.
Courtney Cox, a co-host of the program, acknowledged that she noticed an increase in her Amazon Prime membership to $14.99 per month. Additionally, co-host Jermaine Wiggins articulated his observation that the new thing with football is widespread dissemination across various platforms.
“I guess those people who have unbundled or whatever, you’d have to tell me whether you feel like you’re paying less,” Hill said. “I think going forward for me, the solution is not going to be paying both cable and streaming.”
Chris Curtis, the producer of the show, compared the streaming approach to ‘tapas’ at a restaurant. His analogy claimed that while people may order these appetizers to spend the same amount of money to receive more food, the reality is that they spend more to get less. Wiggins also stated that he feels like there are too many streaming services now, some of which include NFL games.
In addition to Amazon Prime Video streaming Thursday Night Football and NFL matchups on Black Friday and the Wild Card Round, Netflix and Peacock have also had exclusive game broadcasts in the 2024 season. “Cable’s probably the best way to go,” Wiggins surmised, pointing to the prices for various streaming services and a virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD). Hill challenged this point, arguing that it is not the best thing to do when the service fees continue to increase.
“Okay, but you do a get lot of those,” Wiggins said. “Some streaming services packaged into your cable, so if there are some shows that you like to watch, you can get them on your cable if you have the cable plan that allows you to do that.”
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