Watching the Red Sox on TV Is More Expensive This Year
Back on January 14, 2025, Xfinity shifted NESN and NBC Sports Boston to its more expensive Ultimate TV package. Boston sports fans now have to shell out up to $33 more each month to watch their teams play.
The change hits fans of Red Sox, Bruins, and Celtics games especially hard. To keep watching, customers need to jump from the $60 Popular TV package to Ultimate TV at $80, plus fork over an extra $15 sports fee.
Customer Crista Martin watched her bill jump from $212.73 to a staggering $273.40 after upgrading to keep her sports channels, according to Sports Business Journal.
To ease the pain, Xfinity threw in a three-month, $10 monthly credit for affected customers. The company blames rising sports programming costs for the change.
This change follows Xfinity’s new deals with both networks. The cable provider has already bumped sports channels to premium tiers in 30 other markets.
Customers are now stuck with three options: pay more, switch providers, or try streaming. NESN’s standalone streaming service costs $180 per year to start but jumps to $330 after the intro rate ends.
The price hike hits seniors on fixed incomes and longtime customers particularly hard. In an odd twist that’s led to talks of reaching out to state officials, some customers say their bills went up even after losing sports channels.
While standing by the decision, a Comcast spokesperson said most Xfinity customers already have Ultimate TV. This pricing move has now rolled out to about 30 markets across the country.
