As the years continue to pile up this is getting so frustrating. I am a Red Sox fan living in CT, not exactly a crazy notion. I have Directv. I do get SD NESN. I have the HD packages, but still can not get NESN HD. ONly the Boston Market can. Lucky me I do get yankee games in HD, even though I am not technically in the New York Market. IN fact I am about 145 Miles from Fenway Park and 90 miles from Yankee Stadium, not much difference. When is HD going to get straightenend out. Oh and currently if I were to swtich to Cable, no they don't offer NESN HD either, they may inthe future but today they don't. Every year I thinnk ok this is the year, then nothing. Ugh.

OH and does anyone know if I buy the MLB package if that would allow me to watch the games in HD??

Sorry had to vent.

Why don't you just go ahead and start rooting for the Yankees?

Sorry couldn't resist. I am a NY sportsfan living in Michigan, so I know the pains of rooting for an out-of-town team. If the MLB package is like the NHL package, it is only the SD feeds. I would be in Heaven if they had an HD MSG feed on the package.

They do carry some games in HD...not all, but some. I'd say you'd get an "okay" amount of Red Sox games in HD between that package and the ESPN channels and Fox.

They do carry some games in HD...not all, but some. I'd say you'd get an "okay" amount of Red Sox games in HD between that package and the ESPN channels and Fox.

Actually in CT, as a DirecTV sub, we get a grand total of 0 HD Sox games. Currently, DirecTV only carries NESN-HD in Boston despite NESN's actual coverage being all of New England. While Hartford does have Lil, no RSN for us.

Because of this, all those ESPN games (which I will admit are numerous) are being broadcasts in NESN-HD simultaniously and in turn, being blacked out in the NESN markets. So while Boston can tune into NESN-HD during those ESPN blackouts, the rest of New England can't.... bummer for us.

Fox EDTV isn't much of a step up although that might change this year.

As a DirecTV sub in CT, it's pretty much status quo until the new birds fly.

So the MLB package does let you watch some games in HD? The thing that really stinks is we are considered in the Red Sox market by MLB but NOT by Directv. So I think the packages blacks out the games and forces us to watch NESN SD. THis is where my frustration with Directv lies. I believe only Boston DMA is allowed to get NESN HD while providence, hartford, portland etc around New England that are part of the Red Sox market are NOT allowed to. The whole thing is just way to restrictive.

So the MLB package does let you watch some games in HD? The thing that really stinks is we are considered in the Red Sox market by MLB but NOT by Directv. So I think the packages blacks out the games and forces us to watch NESN SD. THis is where my frustration with Directv lies. I believe only Boston DMA is allowed to get NESN HD while providence, hartford, portland etc around New England that are part of the Red Sox market are NOT allowed to. The whole thing is just way to restrictive.

Honestly, I feel your frustration 100%... but it's a bandwidth issue and not DirecTV redrawing the lines. NESN-HD coverage will be just like the SD version once that have the bandwidth to put the RSNs on a national bird. You could argue they could duplicate the signal on Hartford's HD Lil Spot beam (assuming there is the room currently), but that still wouldn't help RI, Maine and the rest of New England. I really think Directv's adding of the RSN's last summer was a stop gap measure to avoid further embarrassment from Dish and Cable who at the time was adding a lot of HD that DirecTV couldn't.

No idea on the MLB Package though... just knowing MLB though, don't be shocked if local teams are blacked out.

Honestly, I feel your frustration 100%... but it's a bandwidth issue and not DirecTV redrawing the lines. NESN-HD coverage will be just like the SD version once that have the bandwidth to put the RSNs on a national bird. You could argue they could duplicate the signal on Hartford's HD Lil Spot beam (assuming there is the room currently), but that still wouldn't help RI, Maine and the rest of New England. I really think Directv's adding of the RSN's last summer was a stop gap measure to avoid further embarrassment from Dish and Cable who at the time was adding a lot of HD that DirecTV couldn't.

No idea on the MLB Package though... just knowing MLB though, don't be shocked if local teams are blacked out.

You are right on because it is on a spot beam it can only be picked up in the Boston market. I live 1/2 way between Boston and providence and believe I am on the fringe for receiving it. I think once the new birds go up you will then see it. I am upgrading my dish on Saturday so that I can receive it this year but I hate giving up my tivo to do it and DNS service as well.

We have had the Red Sox on NESN HD in Maine for some time on Time Warner / Adelphia.

Where in CT are you? I am in Guilford and via Comcast we get NESN-HD 24/7 meaning all Sox and Bruins games. I'll trade you for YES-HD :P

I am in Oxford. COmcast just took over Telemedia, which actually did not even carry nesn at all for many towns. Comcast has of yet NOT added NESN to the Oxford area. HOnestly its such a joke. They throw ynakee games in HD on channel 95, why not Sox games?? I mean we are supposed to actually be in the Sox market NOT the yankees market.

You are right on because it is on a spot beam it can only be picked up in the Boston market. I live 1/2 way between Boston and providence and believe I am on the fringe for receiving it. I think once the new birds go up you will then see it. I am upgrading my dish on Saturday so that I can receive it this year but I hate giving up my tivo to do it and DNS service as well.
I did an experiment last year after NESN YD was launched for the Boston DMA only. I called DirecTV and told them I moved to Cambrdige, MA (I used a friend's address). Immediately, all of my locals SD and HD changed to the Boston affiliates. In addition, a second channel 623 titled "HD" showed up in my guide. It was NESN HD, and it was coming in absolutely fine here in western Connecticut, even with a severe thunderstorm overhead. I since ditched DirecTV because the quality of their HD was poor.

I am in Oxford. COmcast just took over Telemedia, which actually did not even carry nesn at all for many towns. Comcast has of yet NOT added NESN to the Oxford area. HOnestly its such a joke. They throw ynakee games in HD on channel 95, why not Sox games?? I mean we are supposed to actually be in the Sox market NOT the yankees market.
Comcast taking over for Tele-Media is the best possible news (other than tha news of NESN actually being added) a Sox fan could hope for. Comcast is NESN's biggest customer and distributor, thus has more pull and able to get a better deal for NESN. I know from contacts at both NESN and Comcast that they are currently discussing carriage of NESN in the Waterbury and Seymour systems. They won't really give up any info, so we just have to wait. But I do have an optimistic feeling that they will get a deal to add NESN within the next 30 days or so. If you want to keep tabs on this, check in every now and then at the Tele-Media thread.

P.S. Such a deal would also include NESN HD, and likely NESN On Demand (recordings of studio shows, Sox, and Bruins games.

interesting Paulie. If I can "move" a single reciever I wll try that. I have much familiy and friends in Boston area so have pletny of addresses to go to.

Well I considered moving to comcast. My house is about 250 off the street and an install would be costly. I also have been following the telemedia thread on these boards, and comcast seems to be having issues, and several users are jumping back to D. I don't weant to deal with service issues. Besides lack of channels, my D service is very reliable, actually I have never had any service issues in the 8 years I have been a customer. So I am really hoping they figure something out.

I am in Oxford. COmcast just took over Telemedia, which actually did not even carry nesn at all for many towns. Comcast has of yet NOT added NESN to the Oxford area. HOnestly its such a joke. They throw ynakee games in HD on channel 95, why not Sox games?? I mean we are supposed to actually be in the Sox market NOT the yankees market.

You are in Yankees home market. Yankees, Mets and Red Sox claim CT as part of their home market. All providers in CT should carry Yankees, Mets and Red Sox.

You are in Yankees home market. Yankees, Mets and Red Sox claim CT as part of their home market. All providers in CT should carry Yankees, Mets and Red Sox.

Not quite. Fairfield County, CT is only part of the New York baseball market. No Red Sox available here.

interesting Paulie. If I can "move" a single reciever I wll try that. I have much familiy and friends in Boston area so have pletny of addresses to go to.
You have to "move" all of your receivers to Boston.

Well I considered moving to comcast. My house is about 250 off the street and an install would be costly. I also have been following the telemedia thread on these boards, and comcast seems to be having issues, and several users are jumping back to D. I don't weant to deal with service issues. Besides lack of channels, my D service is very reliable, actually I have never had any service issues in the 8 years I have been a customer. So I am really hoping they figure something out.
Before considering Comcast, you should wait a while. #1 to see if they actually do add NESN in time for this season, and #2 so they can work through more of this transition. There are still some bugs that they are fixing, while integrating us into the Comcast SA system. This picture should be much clearer within 30 days or so.

I did an experiment last year after NESN YD was launched for the Boston DMA only. I called DirecTV and told them I moved to Cambrdige, MA (I used a friend's address). Immediately, all of my locals SD and HD changed to the Boston affiliates. In addition, a second channel 623 titled "HD" showed up in my guide. It was NESN HD, and it was coming in absolutely fine here in western Connecticut, even with a severe thunderstorm overhead.

This type of thing is possible. When I lived in Boston a friend used this technique in reverse, i.e. had a NYC address on his DirecTV account, allowing him to watch the Yankees on Yes-HD.

I did an experiment last year after NESN YD was launched for the Boston DMA only. I called DirecTV and told them I moved to Cambrdige, MA (I used a friend's address). Immediately, all of my locals SD and HD changed to the Boston affiliates. In addition, a second channel 623 titled "HD" showed up in my guide. It was NESN HD, and it was coming in absolutely fine here in western Connecticut, even with a severe thunderstorm overhead. I since ditched DirecTV because the quality of their HD was poor.

Wow I am surprised that is great I guess it is time to move

I understand that if I call D*TV and tell them that I have "moved" to the Boston area I can get NESN HD etc. Can someone give me more detail? Such as, can I keep my current (CT) billing address, and how do I pick a MA address to use? I do have several relatives in MA but most already have D*TV, it this a problem?

Thanks for any help. Long time reader, first time poster! :)

They will most likely want to come out and install your diosh for you.

You sometimes can get away with such dealings, but DirecTV is much more cognizant of this sort of thing than Dish ever was -- which is a major reason Dish itself can no longer offer DNS service to anyone, legally or not. (Dish does offer some sDNS ervice through an ("outside provider").

I subscribed to MLB.TV last september to watch the pennant races. The broadcasts were in 350K and, as mentioned there were local blackouts. I could not get the NY or Philly teams but could get Baltimore which I believe was 150 miles away. The cost was $15 for the month. If you are 150 miles from Boston you may be in luck.

They automatically renewed me for the Spring which was something I wanted to check out anyhow. For Spring 2007, there are NO BLACKOUTS. They also have an option for the entire 2007 season of Premium service in 700K for $20 a month (Spring included). The 350K picture was comparable to SD (480i). I'm not going to get the 700K, but I would expect it to be near HD.

I just checked the RED SOX schedule. There are 14 games on MLB.TV in March starting with tomorrow's game vs the Phillies.

Does anyone know which satellite / transponder supplies the NESN-HD Channel 623 spotbeam signal?

Nice name bobkat6 :)

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