Red Sox broadcaster to offer streaming service outside of cable bundle

The local cable network, which broadcasts Boston’s Major League Baseball and National Hockey League games, has launched a standalone streaming subscription and is the first sports network in the region.

The NESN option will be available on Wednesday, allowing subscribers to watch live games without paying a cable subscription fee. The first transaction of this type is due to the growing popularity of streaming services such as Netflix, Disney +, and HBO Max, as millions of Americans cancel their pay-TV subscriptions each year.

NESN charges $ 29.99 per month for streaming access to network programming, including live games featuring the MLB Red Sox and the NHL Bruins. The first month costs $ 1 as a promotional price. The annual subscription is $ 329.99 and includes eight tickets to the 2022 Red Sox game.

This service NESN360 is only available to people in the New England region. MLB owns the off-market streaming rights for MLB TV.

“We believe that direct subscription options will be built on NESN’s reach in the region,” NESN President and Chief Executive Officer Sean McGrail said in a statement.

Owned by Boston Red Sox owner Fenway Sports Group, NESN seeks to attract younger audiences by offering digital streaming to replace Red Sox and Bruins games. However, this service is more expensive than existing streaming services. The most expensive global streaming services, Netflix and HBO Max, have a standard plan of about $ 15 per month in the United States.

Regional sports network You have to charge a fairly high price We provide off-cable services through contracts with cable TV providers such as Comcast, Charter and DirecTV. The cable provider agrees to pay NESN a flat monthly fee based on an estimate of the number of viewers.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC.

See: Sinclair Broadcast and Barry’s team provide a regional sports network