Xfinity supplants NESN and NBC Sports Boston to more expensive cable tier

Media

Comcast has reached agreements with NESN and NBC Sports Boston to move channels from its Popular TV (or basic) package to its Ultimate TV (or premium) tier of service starting Tuesday.

By Chad Finn, The Boston Globe

January 10, 2025 | 11:09 a.m.

2 minutes to read

Subscribers to Xfinity’s basic cable TV package in New England will need to change their game plan if they want to continue watching the Celtics and Bruins.

Comcast – the parent company of Xfinity – has reached agreements with NESN and NBC Sports Boston to move channels from its Popular TV (or basic) package to its Ultimate TV (or premium) tier of service starting Tuesday, January 14.

The change means a $20 per month price increase to watch Celtics games on NBC Sports Boston, as well as Bruins, Fleet and (in the spring) Red Sox games on NESN. Xfinity lists the Popular and Ultimate TV tiers at $60 and $80, respectively, but that excludes about $49 in monthly streaming fees. (The exact figure varies slightly by state.)

“We are pleased to have reached agreements with NBC Sports Boston and NESN and appreciate them working with us to continue to offer their networks in a way that reflects the evolving video market for local sports and provides choice to our customers,” an Xfinity official said. spokesperson in a statement.

The spokesperson said most Xfinity customers already have the Ultimate TV package. At the end of 2023, Comcast/Xfinity had about 920,000 cable subscribers in Massachusetts, up from 1.05 million in 2022, according to Mass.gov.

Xfinity plans to send emails informing customers of the decision.

The Bruins will face the Lightning on Tuesday, the day the new arrangement takes effect. When Xfinity Popular TV subscribers activate NESN that evening, a message will appear on screen stating that a subscription to the Ultimate TV package is required. This will also be the case for the Celtics game the next day against the Raptors on NBC Sports Boston.

Xfinity says it will offer a promotional package to those who upgrade to the Ultimate TV tier, details of which will be available at Xfinity.com/upgradeTV.

Comcast/Xfinity has moved regional sports networks to its most expensive tier in about 30 other markets.

The deals with NESN and NBC Sports Boston run for several years, providing some stability in a regional sports network landscape reeling from declining revenues from cord-cutters moving from cable TV to streaming in recent years.

But most RSNs and their respective teams generally prefer to stay on the less expensive basic cable tier, fearing that moving to a more exclusive and expensive tier would hurt viewership.