NESN, the TV home of the Boston Bruins and Boston Red Sox, last night blasted YouTube TV for not carrying it, saying the live streamer doesn’t care about sports fans.
YouTube TV announced in late October that it would no longer carry NESN when the two sides could not reach a new carriage agreement. Bruins fans were hopeful of a last-minute settlement before last night’s opening of the 2020-21 NHL season, but NESN says the companies aren’t even talking.
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“There are no ongoing discussions with YouTube TV for carriage at this time. We offered our most favorable rates and terms last September, and received no offer in return. NESN would certainly like to be back on their platform but their decision to subsequently drop NESN, and over 20 other RSNs across the country, suggests they no longer wish to serve local sports fans. We are just as disappointed as you are that YouTube TV decided to remove NESN from their channel lineup.,” the channel said in a statement on its web site.
YouTube TV last night was blitzed with complaints from NESN viewers on Twitter. But the live streaming service seemed to echo NESN’s position that the impasse is unlikely to end soon.
“There’s no news if NESN will return to YouTube TV in the future, but we’ll let you know if anything does change,” the service said in a tweet.
Earlier in the week, YouTube TV told Boston.com that it was still “open” to a new agreement.
“In this case, our agreement with NESN expired. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to reach a new one which would allow us to keep offering you these channels. We’re still open to making a deal that benefits all of our subscribers, but don’t have updates to share about that at the moment,” the streamer said.
The statement has done little to pacify angry sports fans who subscribe to YouTube TV. In a separate fee fight over sports fees, the streamer last September also lost the 21 Fox-named regional sports channels owned by Sinclair.
One fan has started a petition to return NESN to YouTube TV.
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I’m a sports fan. I have YTTV. I haven’t missed the RSNs for a moment. Sorry NESN, you are just not as valuble as you think you are.
NESN is still offered for people in market on Fubo TV for the same price as YouTube TV at $64.99 a month. The main group of channels missing on Fubo TV is the Turner Network Channels such as TBS and TNT.
Once again an RSN (NESN) wants more money for their niche channel. They attack a provider (YTTV) as if said provider is the problem. Reality: If an RSN wants more money and the provider is not willing to pay it the RSN owner will pull the channel. Time to ask NESN to provide a subscription streaming channel so those who want to watch it can pay for it. Those that don’t should not be forced to pay for a channel they do not watch.