That's unfortunate for the pre/post games but NESN-HD is THE most useless channel any other time of the day so it's not ALL that bad... unless you are a big P90X, Sham-Wow, Colon-Cleanse and New England Fishing fan.
$7 leased receiver fees? Damn, I thought the $5 no-phone-line was Bullsh!t, that's the same as Time-Warner's lease fees. Is the first one at least free like DirecTV's?
There are places in PA that will get you 4 or more teams if you do it right... Phils, Pirates, Yankees, Mets, Orioles and Nats are all in that area.
Some places in CT will get you Yankees and Red Sox, too, at least with cable.