Streaming
Watching each Patriots, Celtics, Bruins, and Crimson Sox recreation on TV could be powerful with out shelling out some huge cash for cable. This is a number of the finest sports activities streaming choices for Boston sports activities followers — in addition to some useful ideas for watching your favourite groups exterior of New England.
What’s the most effective sports activities streaming service for a fan in Boston? It’s sophisticated.
Whether or not you’re a die-hard follower of the Patriots, Bruins, Crimson Sox, Celtics, or all 4, determining the way to watch each recreation on TV in 2025 has change into a logistical nightmare for the common client.
When over-the-top (OTT) streaming suppliers like YouTube TV, FuboTV, and DirecTV first entered the market, they promised to provide viewers extra flexibility to select and select the channels they wished — like NESN, the official broadcaster of the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins — all whereas saving cash on their cable invoice within the course of.
As an alternative, these OTT suppliers and the printed rights holders maintain elevating their costs and stepping into contract fights, resulting in protracted battles like the present stalemate between Disney and YouTube TV, the place subscribers have now gone with out ESPN, FX, and greater than a dozen different channels for 2 weeks and counting.
Even conventional cable suppliers like Comcast Xfinity aren’t immune to those battles; earlier this yr, the corporate introduced that NESN and NBC Sports Boston (the house of the Boston Celtics) would solely be obtainable in its priciest Final TV package deal.
How is a budget-conscious Boston sports activities fan speculated to cope? Past investing in a radio and letting the play-by-play announcers paint you a verbal image, it’s all a matter of priorities.
For those who’re dead-set on watching each Crimson Sox recreation with out paying for cable, you’ll need to subscribe to NESN 360, for instance. Or if you wish to watch the Celtics with out paying for cable, you’ll need to subscribe to Peacock and pay a $14.95 regional sports activities price.
To maintain you knowledgeable on the newest choices, listed below are the most effective methods to observe all your Boston sports activities groups – the Patriots, the Celtics, the Crimson Sox, and the Bruins – together with the way to watch them should you’re dwelling exterior of New England.
Click on the hyperlinks under to leap on to the next info:
The best way to watch the New England Patriots
The best way to watch the New England Patriots free of charge with out cable:
The Patriots are the one one among Boston’s Large 4 sports activities groups that has all of its video games obtainable through over-the-air tv. Most of their video games air on Boston’s CBS affiliate (WBZ-TV Channel 4), whilst you’ll sometimes discover them on Boston 25 (the FOX affiliate) or NBC10 Boston throughout Sunday Night time Soccer.
On the uncommon event when the printed rights to a Patriots recreation are owned by a cable channel or streaming firm – akin to New England’s Nov. 13 game against the New York Jets on Amazon Prime Video – you possibly can watch domestically on WCVB-TV Channel 5.
Be aware: If you’re attempting to observe this Thursday’s Patriots-Jets recreation on YouTube TV, you’re out of luck. The Disney blackout contains locally-owned associates like WCVB-TV Channel 5, so that you’ll need to mud off your outdated TV antenna this week.
The best way to watch the New England Patriots out of market:
For those who stay someplace within the US exterior of the Boston space, your solely choice to observe each out-of-market Patriots recreation is NFL Sunday Ticket, which is offered both as a standalone service or as an add-on to YouTube TV.
Subscribing to the standalone service for the whole 2025 NFL season prices $480, whereas including it to an present YouTube TV subscription is $34.50 a month. You may also select a pay-as-you-go subscription for $85 a month.
Now that the Patriots are enhancing underneath Mike Vrabel, out-of-market followers could get fortunate with extra video games being chosen for a nationwide viewers going ahead. To test the newest nationwide protection map of over-the-air NFL video games (up to date weekly each Wednesday), go to 506sports.com.
The best way to watch the Boston Crimson Sox
The best way to watch the Boston Crimson Sox with out cable:
The one solution to watch each Boston Crimson Sox recreation with out a further cable or OTT supplier subscription is thru NESN 360, which is offered as a standalone service for $29.99 a month or $239.99 per yr to anybody dwelling in New England (aside from Fairfield County, CT.)
Three of the preferred OTT suppliers — YouTube TV, Hulu plus Reside TV, and Sling TV — at the moment don’t supply packages with NESN, leaving solely FuboTV and DirecTV. On condition that Disney (which owns Hulu) not too long ago acquired a majority stake in Fubo, there’s a slim probability that Hulu plus Reside TV will add NESN for the 2026 season, however as of now, that’s not the case.
FuboTV Pro (the most affordable tier that features NESN) prices $84.99 a month, whereas DirecTV Choice (the most affordable tier that features NESN) prices $94.99 a month.
There are additionally quite a few cable suppliers, akin to Xfinity, RCN, and Cox, that provide NESN in sure packages. To see a full checklist, check out NESN’s website.
All of those companies supply quite a few bundles and reductions that change regularly, so you’ll want to test all of their web sites completely, particularly close to the beginning of a workforce’s season.
The best way to watch the Boston Crimson Sox out of market:
As a result of NESN 360 (and cable packages that includes NESN) are solely obtainable in New England (excluding Fairfield County, CT), the easiest way to observe (most) Crimson Sox video games elsewhere within the U.S. is thru MLB.TV’s out-of-market package deal. Costs for the 2026 season haven’t been introduced but, however for 2025 viewers may select between each out-of-market recreation for $30 a month (or $150 for the season).
The caveat is that MLB.TV’s out-of-market package deal is topic to blackouts. Meaning should you’re a retired Crimson Sox fan dwelling within the Tampa Bay space and the Sox fly all the way down to play the Rays, you’re out of luck. Ditto if the Sox are taking part in in a recreation whose broadcast rights are owned by a nationwide supplier like ESPN or Apple TV.
The best way to watch the Boston Bruins
The best way to watch the Boston Bruins with out cable:
For those who learn the part on the way to watch the Boston Crimson Sox straight above, all the info for Boston Bruins followers dwelling in New England is strictly the identical.
The one solution to watch each Boston Bruins recreation with out a further cable or OTT supplier subscription is thru NESN 360, which is offered as a standalone service for $29.99 a month or $239.99 per yr to anybody dwelling in New England (aside from Fairfield County, CT).
Three of the preferred OTT suppliers — YouTube TV, Hulu plus Reside TV, and Sling TV — at the moment don’t supply packages with NESN, leaving solely FuboTV and DirecTV. On condition that Disney (which owns Hulu) not too long ago acquired a majority stake in Fubo, there’s a slim probability that Hulu plus Reside TV will add NESN for the 2026 season, however as of now, that’s not the case.
FuboTV Pro (the most affordable tier that features NESN) prices $84.99 a month, whereas DirecTV Choice (the most affordable tier that features NESN) prices $94.99 a month.
There are additionally quite a few cable suppliers, akin to Xfinity, RCN, and Cox, that provide NESN in sure packages. To see a full checklist, check out NESN’s website.
All of those companies supply quite a few bundles and reductions that change regularly, so you’ll want to test all of their web sites completely, particularly close to the beginning of a workforce’s season.
The best way to watch the Boston Bruins out of market:
As a result of NESN 360 (and cable packages that includes NESN) are solely obtainable in New England (excluding Fairfield County, CT), the easiest way to observe (most) Boston Bruins video games elsewhere within the U.S. is thru both ESPN+ or NHL Heart Ice.
NHL Center Ice is offered as an add-on to present cable packages. Prices fluctuate by supplier, however are sometimes round $70 for a full season.
NHL Heart Ice can also be included in an ESPN+ subscription, which represents a significantly better worth, because it solely prices $12 a month and contains quite a few different sports activities channels. (You may also get ESPN+ as a part of ESPN Unlimited, which is $29.99 a month or $300 a yr.)
Like MLB.TV’s out-of-market package deal, each NHL Heart Ice and ESPN+ are topic to blackouts. Meaning should you’re a retired Bruins fan dwelling in Florida, you is likely to be out of luck when the Bruins are taking part in the Lightning or the Panthers, for instance. Ditto if the Bruins are taking part in a nationally televised recreation on ESPN, TNT, or ABC.
The best way to watch the Boston Celtics
The best way to watch the Boston Celtics with out cable:
Not like the Crimson Sox and Bruins with NESN 360, there is no such thing as a standalone app that lets you watch all 82 Celtics video games every season.
As an alternative, Celtics followers should select from both a cable package deal or one among 4 main OTT suppliers that carries NBC Sports activities Boston, the house of the Celtics: YouTube TV, DirecTV, FuboTV, and Hulu plus Reside TV. (The one main OTT supplier that doesn’t at the moment supply NBC Sports activities Boston is Sling TV.)
YouTube TV is the most affordable of the 4 OTT suppliers that carry NBC Sports activities Boston, costing $82.99 a month. FuboTV Pro (the most affordable tier that features NBC Sports activities Boston) prices $84.99 a month, Hulu Plus Live TV prices $89.99 a month, and DirecTV Choice (the most affordable tier that features NBC Sports activities Boston) prices $94.99 a month.
The most affordable choice for followers is to pay $14.95 per thirty days to add NBC Sports Boston to an existing Peacock subscription. Peacock prices both $11 (for ad-supported) or $17 (for Premium Plus) per thirty days, however should you use Comcast as your web supplier, you’re seemingly eligible for a free or discounted subscription. Better of all, you’ll not be topic to blackouts if the sport can also be airing on TNT, ABC, or ESPN.
The best way to watch the Boston Celtics out of market:
As a result of NBC Sports activities Boston is simply obtainable in New England, the easiest way to observe (most) Boston Celtics video games elsewhere within the U.S. is thru NBA League Move. The service prices $16.99 a month (or $110 a season) for its fundamental tier, and $24.99 a month (or $160 a season) for its Premium move, which options no advertisements, as much as 3 concurrent streaming gadgets, and in-arena streams exhibiting you all of the on-court leisure throughout TV timeouts.
Just like the MLB and NHL’s out-of-market companies, NBA League Move is topic to blackouts.
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