Cutting The Cord on Cable/Satellite TV Service?

Jim Ed Rice in HOF

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Cross posting from the Pats game thread in case an answer may come from this group.

I’m getting on a BOS-SFO flight today at 3:30. Since United sucks ass I don’t believe they have live TV as an option.

Anyone have experience with United Wifi and streaming through YTTV? I’m cheap and won’t spend the Wi-Fi cost if I can’t watch football to occupy my time.
 

cgori

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Cross posting from the Pats game thread in case an answer may come from this group.

I’m getting on a BOS-SFO flight today at 3:30. Since United sucks ass I don’t believe they have live TV as an option.

Anyone have experience with United Wifi and streaming through YTTV? I’m cheap and won’t spend the Wi-Fi cost if I can’t watch football to occupy my time.
Obviously too late but my recollection is that this won't work on United Wifi (the plane-to-ground bandwidth isn't there), they filter the traffic. Curious to hear if you tried it and it did work - I saw someone stream a very low-res French Open or US Open match once a few years back, which I assume was done through some kind of tunnel/VPN to circumvent the filtering.
 

jayhoz

Ronald Bartel
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With NFL Sunday Ticket moving to a streaming service next year we are toying with the idea of dropping DirecTV. We have all of the basic streaming services (Hulu, Disney, Peacock, Prime, etc.) We live in a multi-family home with the in-laws in the apartment next door. My original thought is to get the highest FuboTV package and split the cost with the inlaws. We have 2 TVs with one being a Smart TV but the one in the bedroom is not, but I am assuming a Roku stick would solve that issue. The one issue I am trying to figure out is the in-laws are originally from CT and love their SNY and YES and I can't find a service or workaround for them to get YES here in NH. I'm not sure there is one. Then we will likely pick up whatever service gets Sunday Ticket and both save money. Does this make sense? I'm a streaming novice, am I missing anything?
I'd look into a Chromecast w/ Google TV. I switched from Roku and couldn't be happier with the improvement in the interface.
 

RSN Diaspora

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Obviously too late but my recollection is that this won't work on United Wifi (the plane-to-ground bandwidth isn't there), they filter the traffic. Curious to hear if you tried it and it did work - I saw someone stream a very low-res French Open or US Open match once a few years back, which I assume was done through some kind of tunnel/VPN to circumvent the filtering.
It also depends on whether the plane has 2Ku band wifi or more traditional air-to-ground wifi--unlike some other carriers, United isn't exclusive to one or the other. On top of that, the bandwidth is affected by how many people are using the wifi, atmospheric conditions, and whether United throttles or blocks bandwidth-heavy sites like YTTV. I did once manage to watch an entire Pats game with perfectly good hi-def and no buffering on an American flight through a pirated stream, but I don't think streaming is ever something you can count on when flying...at least not for now.
 

Jim Ed Rice in HOF

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Obviously too late but my recollection is that this won't work on United Wifi (the plane-to-ground bandwidth isn't there), they filter the traffic. Curious to hear if you tried it and it did work - I saw someone stream a very low-res French Open or US Open match once a few years back, which I assume was done through some kind of tunnel/VPN to circumvent the filtering.
No, I didn't bother based on getting a couple notes similar to yours in the game thread. My flight was delayed a bit anyway so I was able to catch most of the game anyway.
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

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I canceled DirecTV Stream. I liked it, but I’m out on the Patriots this year and with that have no need for TV. I’ll probably get back on Stream or YouTube.TV once the Red Sox and Celtics are back in season.
 

Humphrey

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Those who have played the game with Comcast: is a new customer given a better deal than someone who moves and gets service at their new address?

The home we are moving from is in my name; the home we are moving to is in my wife's name (because we've owned it as a rental for 10 years)...if moving is a better deal, I'll turn off my wife's account and "move" mine; however, if a totally new customer gets a better deal, I can use my daughter as a brand new customer.
 

Max Power

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Those who have played the game with Comcast: is a new customer given a better deal than someone who moves and gets service at their new address?

The home we are moving from is in my name; the home we are moving to is in my wife's name (because we've owned it as a rental for 10 years)...if moving is a better deal, I'll turn off my wife's account and "move" mine; however, if a totally new customer gets a better deal, I can use my daughter as a brand new customer.
New customers almost always get the better deal. They also usually have 1 year or 2 year agreement options, so if you're going to stay there a while, it probably makes sense to lock in the rate for 2 years.
 

Nick Kaufman

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Ok, I ll forego the ranting, but I have a situation with Verizon. Basically over the past week, I tried upgrading my set top box in order to get 1080p resolution instead of 1080i. However, they told me that in order to do so, they had to upgrade my equipment which I consented to. However, while doing so, they also changed my grandfathered TV plan without telling me and now I have to choose between paying the same for less channels or more to get an acceptable number of channels, but still less than I was getting.

The worst part is I am going to their webpage to see what channels each of their new plans is offering, but they don't show that. Not to mention the website sucks and is buggy as hell. Worst of all, under the new plan they put me on, I am supposed to choose 5 favorite channels and based on those, they pick the rest of the channels they show. Guess what? They already picked 5 favorite channels for me and no one told me about it!

The customer representative I talked to yesterday was understanding and eventually told me I needed to talk to a supervisor, because there was nothing she could do.

So now I am thinking, before I go ahead and speak to a supervisor, I need to have studied my alternatives, though frankly, just based on my customer experience over the last week, the suckitude of which is even bigger than I described here, I am thinking of switching to Youtube or Fubo. Does anyone have experience with current Fios offerings or any ideas about what to ask for? I just want to watch ESPN, sports, namely soccer & basketball and on occasion some CNN. As far as Fubo & youtube are concerned, can I use a remote control for those instead of a phone app? Do people channel surf on streaming services? Are there any big channels missing from them? I noticed Fubo doesn't carry CNN and Youtube doesn't carry any local Fox Sports stations.Am I right?

Any feedback welcome.
 

Bertha

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I am unfamiliar with Verizon and your delivery options, but can say that both YouTube TV and Fubo have good quality and interface, and have worked well for our family. The only channels missing that matter to us are CNN, TNT, and TBS for Fubo, and NESN for YouTube TV.
 

joe dokes

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The worst part is I am going to their webpage to see what channels each of their new plans is offering, but they don't show that. Not to mention the website sucks and is buggy as hell. Worst of all, under the new plan they put me on, I am supposed to choose 5 favorite channels and based on those, they pick the rest of the channels they show. Guess what? They already picked 5 favorite channels for me and no one told me about it!
Comcast always made it hard to find out plan info, especially if you;re an existing customer. One thing that helped was signing out, and looking like you're a new customer and if it asks for an address use a neighbor. If the neighbor has verizon, keep going. Eventually you'll get a look at the content of the plans. (the pricing, of course, for new custmers is irrelevant to you.)
 

Nick Kaufman

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I am unfamiliar with Verizon and your delivery options, but can say that both YouTube TV and Fubo have good quality and interface, and have worked well for our family. The only channels missing that matter to us are CNN, TNT, and TBS for Fubo, and NESN for YouTube TV.
Thank you, much appreciated.
Comcast always made it hard to find out plan info, especially if you;re an existing customer. One thing that helped was signing out, and looking like you're a new customer and if it asks for an address use a neighbor. If the neighbor has verizon, keep going. Eventually you'll get a look at the content of the plans. (the pricing, of course, for new custmers is irrelevant to you.)
Also thank you, I tried that and I was finally able to not only see channel lineups for various TV packages, but that new subscribers get my internet package for $30 less if they bring their own router.
 

Nick Kaufman

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One more question. If I go down the Fubo/Youtube TV route, is there a recommended device preferably featuring a remote control with numbers to watch their programming? I wouldn't want to do through my browser. I am guessing options are Roku, Nvdia Shield, Apple TV?

Alternatively, I don't know if I can watch youtube or fubo through a program like Kodi or Plex. I can most definitely get a NUC or build myself a computer to do so.
 

jayhoz

Ronald Bartel
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One more question. If I go down the Fubo/Youtube TV route, is there a recommended device preferably featuring a remote control with numbers to watch their programming? I wouldn't want to do through my browser. I am guessing options are Roku, Nvdia Shield, Apple TV?

Alternatively, I don't know if I can watch youtube or fubo through a program like Kodi or Plex. I can most definitely get a NUC or build myself a computer to do so.
Chromecast w/ Google TV as well.
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

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One more question. If I go down the Fubo/Youtube TV route, is there a recommended device preferably featuring a remote control with numbers to watch their programming? I wouldn't want to do through my browser. I am guessing options are Roku, Nvdia Shield, Apple TV?
You might want to look at DirecTV Stream. DirecTV Stream has its own set top box that comes with a traditional remote. It's also the only streaming platform I know that offers cable-like channel surfing.

I'll say, though: having tried literally every provider, I don't miss the traditional channel surfing and numbers. On YouTube TV, my most watched shows on any channel (live or recorded) are never more than 2 clicks away. If I want to surf, I can open up the guide and scroll through that. "Hey Siri, fast forward [seconds/minutes]" is the best way to skip commercials.

If you're an Apple user, I recommend the Apple TV. It's effortless to integrate with your phone and with the Home app. The phone integration is clutch for putting my whatever's on my small screen onto the biggest screen in the house. If you have HomePods it's a no brainer because the HomePods make excellent speakers for television and video games.

Otherwise, get whatever device most matches your ecosystem. Android/Google user? Get the ChromeCast. Amazon/Echo user? Get the Fire.

Roku is perfectly cromulent and I was happy with it for years, but got frustrated with the ads on the home screen. Apple hasn't started serving those yet.
 

jayhoz

Ronald Bartel
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Jul 19, 2005
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You might want to look at DirecTV Stream. DirecTV Stream has its own set top box that comes with a traditional remote. It's also the only streaming platform I know that offers cable-like channel surfing.

I'll say, though: having tried literally every provider, I don't miss the traditional channel surfing and numbers. On YouTube TV, my most watched shows on any channel (live or recorded) are never more than 2 clicks away. If I want to surf, I can open up the guide and scroll through that. "Hey Siri, fast forward [seconds/minutes]" is the best way to skip commercials.

If you're an Apple user, I recommend the Apple TV. It's effortless to integrate with your phone and with the Home app. The phone integration is clutch for putting my whatever's on my small screen onto the biggest screen in the house. If you have HomePods it's a no brainer because the HomePods make excellent speakers for television and video games.

Otherwise, get whatever device most matches your ecosystem. Android/Google user? Get the ChromeCast. Amazon/Echo user? Get the Fire.

Roku is perfectly cromulent and I was happy with it for years, but got frustrated with the ads on the home screen. Apple hasn't started serving those yet.
NESN commercials during Sox games are 2 minutes and 20 seconds for anyone wondering.
 

Nick Kaufman

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You might want to look at DirecTV Stream. DirecTV Stream has its own set top box that comes with a traditional remote. It's also the only streaming platform I know that offers cable-like channel surfing.

I'll say, though: having tried literally every provider, I don't miss the traditional channel surfing and numbers. On YouTube TV, my most watched shows on any channel (live or recorded) are never more than 2 clicks away. If I want to surf, I can open up the guide and scroll through that. "Hey Siri, fast forward [seconds/minutes]" is the best way to skip commercials.

If you're an Apple user, I recommend the Apple TV. It's effortless to integrate with your phone and with the Home app. The phone integration is clutch for putting my whatever's on my small screen onto the biggest screen in the house. If you have HomePods it's a no brainer because the HomePods make excellent speakers for television and video games.

Otherwise, get whatever device most matches your ecosystem. Android/Google user? Get the ChromeCast. Amazon/Echo user? Get the Fire.

Roku is perfectly cromulent and I was happy with it for years, but got frustrated with the ads on the home screen. Apple hasn't started serving those yet.
Thank you. Do you miss anything from your cable TV service?

To put it another way. Is the price for streaming services really that much lower than what you get from your cable provider? Because on surface, it seems like it is.
 

TFP

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Even if it's a wash, a service like YTTV is so much better/easier/less aggravating than a cable provider.
It's so easy for me to pop open YTTV on my phone and watch something while traveling, or when I'm at other locations I can login and have my cable right there immediately. Or just open it on my work monitor and have it on the side. It's so ridiculously convenient that I would pay more than cable for it. Literally the only thing I miss are NESN and NHL Network.
 

orgoman

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Thank you. Do you miss anything from your cable TV service?

To put it another way. Is the price for streaming services really that much lower than what you get from your cable provider? Because on surface, it seems like it is.
To add to the previous posters - It is incredibly easy to cancel YTTV. You never have to fight with cable providers again or worry about 2 year commitment or whatever. Try it for 2 weeks, you don't like it, it's done.

Also, the price is the price. You don't have to play games with the cable companies about whether you are cancelling or a new customer to get a better price. You don't have to worry about surprise price increases (as much), hidden charges, rent on set-top boxes, rent on remotes or other hidden fees. Cablevision used to charge me $10/month for a second set-top box and $5/month on a second remote. Somehow, I don't miss those.
 

jayhoz

Ronald Bartel
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To add to the previous posters - It is incredibly easy to cancel YTTV. You never have to fight with cable providers again or worry about 2 year commitment or whatever. Try it for 2 weeks, you don't like it, it's done.

Also, the price is the price. You don't have to play games with the cable companies about whether you are cancelling or a new customer to get a better price. You don't have to worry about surprise price increases (as much), hidden charges, rent on set-top boxes, rent on remotes or other hidden fees. Cablevision used to charge me $10/month for a second set-top box and $5/month on a second remote. Somehow, I don't miss those.
Not only can you easily cancel, you can also just pause the service. When you take it off pause all your preferences are still there as well as all the DVR content that was there at the time you paused. I toggle between Fubo (during baseball season) and YTTV (the rest of the year) and pausing is a godsend.
 

Max Power

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It's so easy for me to pop open YTTV on my phone and watch something while traveling, or when I'm at other locations I can login and have my cable right there immediately. Or just open it on my work monitor and have it on the side. It's so ridiculously convenient that I would pay more than cable for it. Literally the only thing I miss are NESN and NHL Network.
You can do the same with Comcast's streaming apps and website, and it includes every single channel. I can watch Red Sox games at work on NESN or work my way through the DVR on my phone and pick up where I left off on any other device. You pay dearly for the service, but it's there.
 

Nick Kaufman

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Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I managed to speak to a supervisor today and she promised to reinstate my old plan. I think that's still the best deal I can get, so i am staying for the time being. However, between being difficult finding someone to give me a simple answer to a simple question, most representatives trying to upsell me on services I don't need and all the time I had to waste to deal with this, this was just a bad customer service experience for me. The day is fast approaching that I will make the leap to a streaming service.
 

wilked

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I’m in YTTV and strongly missing the Bs games. For anyone in similar.,. Any solutions?
 

Dollar

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I’m in YTTV and strongly missing the Bs games. For anyone in similar.,. Any solutions?
There aren't too many great options since YTTV dropped NESN, unfortunately.

ESPN+ is $9.99 a month, and it's also included in the Disney bundle which is $13.99 but will be $14.99 a month starting in December.

If you have an AmEx Platinum card, you can get the Disney bundle for free as part of the included streaming credit each month. If you're a Verizon customer, you might be able to get the Disney bundle for free.
 

bohous

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I admit that I do miss Xfinity vs YTTV. One thing I really miss is the 'last' channel feature. With Xfinity the back button would remember the last 10 (I think) channels, which effectively created a quick access 'favorites' list. Another issue with YTTV is I don't like that it defaults to opening on Home screen instead of Live menu.

I would say the best thing that has resulted from cutting the cord is that I just watch less TV because its more of a hassle. I find myself watching a lot more regular YT content.
 

TFP

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I admit that I do miss Xfinity vs YTTV. One thing I really miss is the 'last' channel feature. With Xfinity the back button would remember the last 10 (I think) channels, which effectively created a quick access 'favorites' list. Another issue with YTTV is I don't like that it defaults to opening on Home screen instead of Live menu.

I would say the best thing that has resulted from cutting the cord is that I just watch less TV because its more of a hassle. I find myself watching a lot more regular YT content.
Hit the down button when watching TV and your previous channels show up to pick from. Took me a while to figure that out.
 

wilked

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There aren't too many great options since YTTV dropped NESN, unfortunately.

ESPN+ is $9.99 a month, and it's also included in the Disney bundle which is $13.99 but will be $14.99 a month starting in December.

If you have an AmEx Platinum card, you can get the Disney bundle for free as part of the included streaming credit each month. If you're a Verizon customer, you might be able to get the Disney bundle for free.
Does ESPN+ have all bruins games??
 

bohous

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So our free trial of YTTV just ended and not certain we feel we are getting $65/mo of value out of it. Its nice having access to live TV but usually its background noise. Pretty much everything we watch can be found on another streaming service, or we can live without. The one stumbling block is Celtics/NBCSportsBoston. I can get NBA League Pass for $50 season right now, which seems fair but wondering if there are any other workarounds.
 

RSN Diaspora

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The one stumbling block is Celtics/NBCSportsBoston. I can get NBA League Pass for $50 season right now, which seems fair but wondering if there are any other workarounds.
If you’re in-market for NBCSB you won’t be able to get the Celtics on League Pass. YTTV, DTV Streaming, or Fubo will likely be your only non-pirated streaming options.
 

bohous

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If you’re in-market for NBCSB you won’t be able to get the Celtics on League Pass. YTTV, DTV Streaming, or Fubo will likely be your only non-pirated streaming options.
Valuable info. Thanks. I did some digging and it looks like Hulu+ Live may also also an option. I'm in the middle of a free trial of Disney+ bundle which also includes Hulu and ESPN+, but that might be the better value option once that runs out.
 

begranter

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I’m in YTTV and strongly missing the Bs games. For anyone in similar.,. Any solutions?
A friend gave me their FioS log in so I can use NESN360. It's kind of a hassle since there's no Android TV native app, but it gets me the games at least.

Edit: there is an app for Android TV and it seems to work pretty good.
 
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RSN Diaspora

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Just received an email that YouTubeTV is cutting ties with MLB Network. Another bummer.
Yeah, it’s rare for me to watch MLBN unless they have a Sox game, but the fact that they do broadcast games means more blackouts for out-of-network fans. YTTV not carrying NHLN has already caused me to miss a few Bruins games I was hoping to watch. It’s not a good sign, and while they say they “will continue conversations with the MLB to advocate on your behalf, in the hope of restoring their content on YouTube TV” I have my doubts as to how sincere those negotiations will be.
 

johnmd20

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Yeah, it’s rare for me to watch MLBN unless they have a Sox game, but the fact that they do broadcast games means more blackouts for out-of-network fans. YTTV not carrying NHLN has already caused me to miss a few Bruins games I was hoping to watch. It’s not a good sign, and while they say they “will continue conversations with the MLB to advocate on your behalf, in the hope of restoring their content on YouTube TV” I have my doubts as to how sincere those negotiations will be.
YTTV is going all in on the NFL it seems. Losing MLB network stinks, tho.
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

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Started a free trial of Fubo five minutes ago. Decided not to go to a bar or a friend's house to catch the game tonight. A few notes:

They do quarterly billing now. I selected the cheapest plan that has NESN ("Pro Quarterly"), for $74.95/mo. After taxes and the regional sports fee, the bill is ~$287/quarter.

Picture quality is decent on my 77" OLED, but it's definitely not 4K. Audio is really struggling. The stream sometimes goes silent. I can tell the issue is with Fubo and not my audio setup (Apple TV + HomePods) because even when the stream is silent Fubo's own UI makes noise (i.e., beeps when invoking the menus/browsing the guide).

Free trial lasts a week. If Fubo does OK tonight I'll keep it through the next quarter. If not I'll cancel and pay nothing.

Edited to add: Fubo doing OK. Picture got dodgy during the halftime show but nothing missed.
 
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OfTheCarmen

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I've been mostly happy with Fubo since changing over about a year ago. Biggest gripe thus far has been lack of TNT/TBS when sports I want to watch are on there. Obvious convenience things like a "last channel" function would be nice.
 

inJacobyWeTrust

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We just made the switch from cable (RCN/Astound) to Directv Stream last week and so far have no complaints. We did the free trials for both Fubo and Stream, and 3 main reasons why we landed on Stream even though it’s a bit more expensive than Fubo:
1) the picture quality and user interface were better on Stream
2) the lack of TBS/TNT which would be a problem during NBA playoffs and NCAA tourney time
3) Stream offers unlimited DVR, vs 1000 hours for Fubo. To be fair I’m not sure this would’ve been an issue but was a nice selling point.
Combined with switching from RCN to the $30/mo new customer offer for 400 mbps internet through Xfinity we will save quite a bit each month.
I know I’m repeating feedback that has already been provided in this thread (thank you!) but wanted to add our experience so far.
 

bohous

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Looking into switching from YTTV to DirectTV for baseball season. Is NESN available in the base $75/mo 'Entertainment' package? It doesn't show on the channel lineups on their website.
 

bohous

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No. Regional sports networks (NBC Sports Boston, NESN, and NESN+ for me) are available in the Choice package and above.
Thanks, though disappointing. That would be $35/mo more than YTTV, which is hard to justify that just for NESN. Might be a sad baseball season at the Bohous house.


edit: Looks like NESN360 is $30/mo which is still ridiculous.
 
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jayhoz

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Thanks, though disappointing. That would be $35/mo more than YTTV, which is hard to justify that just for NESN. Might be a sad baseball season at the Bohous house.


edit: Looks like NESN360 is $30/mo which is still ridiculous.
You can get NESN on Fubo for $74.99. The catch is you lose TNT which has some NBA and NHL playoff games. I may go DirecTV for April and May and then Fubo for the rest of the MLB season.