New England sports fans now have more access to their favorite teams for free as of today. New England Sports Network, also known as NESN, announced today the official launch of ‘NESN Nation’, the network’s first free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel for a nationwide audience.
NESN said in a statement that the channel will feature more than thirty hours of weekly live and original programming featuring the network’s coverage of local Boston and New England teams.
“We’re excited to expand our portfolio with our first FAST national channel that provides easy access to both our globally recognized brands as well as our award-winning content,” NESN President and CEO David Wisnia said. “NESN Nation will deliver a range of new, live, and original programming and further our mission to provide a multitude of ways for fans to engage with our must-see content.”
Fans can now find Boston sports related content provided by the network on Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Twitch, and Plex. The channel will also reportedly be arriving soon to Samsung TV Plus users in the coming weeks.
While fans can expect a range of different types of content on NESN Nation, including live gameday content, press conferences, interviews, game and sports betting analysis, and more, they won’t find live Boston Red Sox or Boston Bruins regular-season games on the channel. The limitations and geographic parameters with both the NHL and MLB broadcast rights agreements prevent that content from being viewed on the FAST channel.
However the network stated that they will broadcast four upcoming spring training Red Sox games on Feb. 23, March 2, March 9, and March 23, shown on all NESN Nation platforms except Twitch.
“As this continues to evolve, we’ll look at other opportunities with the Bruins regular season, with the Red Sox, or any other live content on the college side to continue to expand our offerings,” said David Wisnia, NESN’s president and CEO, to the Boston Globe.
NESN is co-owned by the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins and serves as the broadcast home for regional broadcasts surrounding both teams. The outlet reaches 4 million homes across nine designated market areas and is distributed on various cable and over-the-top media platforms. NESN launched a direct-to-consumer platform in June 2022, allowing fans to purchase subscriptions to view content from the network without a traditional cable television subscription through a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD).
