NESN revamps its hockey team
These are busy days at NESN, the TV home of the Red Sox and Bruins.
Red Sox ratings are up significantly across the board over last year's championship season, including pregame, postgame, and game telecasts.
And after a year without the NHL, the Bruins are set to begin a season that promises all sorts of changes. The league is changing the product on the ice; and NESN is changing its product on the screen with more high-definition telecasts, a new studio at the TD Banknorth Garden, and new on-air talent.
The on-air changes haven't been finalized, but in talking with a number of broadcasters and agents, this seems to be where NESN is headed:
That leaves openings for a studio host, a road play-by-play announcer, and an ice-level reporter.
Two Boston TV executives noted that the increased workload gives Brickley the chance to become the ''Jerry Remy of Bruins Nation."
How will NESN fill the rest of its hockey rotation? This is where we move into the realm of speculation. NESN has found that going with one broadcast team in baseball (Remy and Don Orsillo) has worked well, so it's not a reach to think it'll go that route with hockey.
Trouble is, home play-by-play man Dale Arnold also has a day job as cohost of WEEI radio's midday ''Dale & Holley" show. It would be hard for the network to find fault with his attitude or game preparation; he comes directly to Causeway Street after his show to get ready for broadcasts.
But there's no shortage of other hockey announcers already at NESN. Orsillo, Tom Caron, Eric Frede, Corey Masse, and Bob Neumeier all have done hockey play-by-play, and all love the game. In the past, NESN has been inclined to promote from within. It will be interesting to see how the slots fill up. WEEI's old ''Dale & Neumy" team, reunited at NESN? Who knows?
What is certain is that announcements will be coming soon. The season opens Oct. 5, and plans are in place to televise at least one exhibition game.
NESN hockey producer Doug Wheeler deferred all questions of on-air personnel to network management, but he was willing to talk about telecast plans.
''We'll do all the Bruins' home games in HD, and we'd like to do all the road games, too," said Wheeler. ''The limiting factor is the availability of HD production trucks. Sometimes we forget NESN was in the forefront of the HD movement and that other markets are still getting their toes wet."
A new studio at the Garden will be a welcome addition for the studio crew.
''When it was in Legends [the FleetCenter restaurant], fans would come up after the show and engage people in conversation, not realizing [the crew] had to get to a seat where they could be watching the game and taking notes," said Wheeler. ''This way, they'll only have to swivel their seats to be watching the action."
As for game coverage, Wheeler reminded, ''There's going to be a lot of getting used to with the new rules. Our analysts will be busy explaining that, plus the new rules affecting goalie equipment and the changed red lines."
Cleaning up
NESN and the Red Sox are riding a ratings high. Through Aug. 15, the average game rating on NESN was up 23.3 percent, from 9.0 to 11.1. The postgame shows were up 27.6 percent, from 2.9 to 3.7, and the pregame show was up 25 percent, from 1.2 to 1.5. Channel 38 is enjoying similar increases for its Friday night package, showing a 28.1 percent increase, from 9.6 to 12.3. ESPN's three telecasts of Red Sox games (the same number to date as a year ago) were up 15.1 percent, from 12.6 to 14.5. The Fox Saturday games (six each season to date) were up 3 percent from 10.1 to 10.4. NESN telecasts in Providence were up 19.8 percent. But in Hartford, the change is extraordinary, with Sox telecasts averaging a 5.2, up 79.3 percent from last year's 2.9. Also in Hartford, Sox games on NESN are averaging a 5.2, compared with a 4.0 for Yankees games on YES . . . Channel 4 has hired Neumeier to work its ''Patriots Game Day" and ''5th Quarter" shows. He'll also be working the Breeders' Cup races for NBC this fall . . . Fantasy football players have become a valuable viewing commodity to networks because they spend twice as much time viewing pro football as casual fans. Fox pays homage with ''Foxsports.com Fantasy Football Preview" at 3 p.m. today, with Terry Bradshaw, James Brown, Howie Long, and Jimmy Johnson providing guidance. ''Terry's analysis might be a little shaky," said Long. ''He's thinking about drafting himself at QB."
Highlight show
ABC has an hourlong special today (Channel 5, 2:30 p.m.) featuring the 36 greatest highlights from the 36 years of ''Monday Night Football," which begins its final season Sept. 8 (a Thursday) with Patriots-Raiders. Segments range from Darryl Stingley's return to Foxborough following his paralysis, to Terrell Owens pulling out a Sharpie and his risque opening with Nicollette Sheridan . . . ''Red Sox Stories," the monthly show that airs tonight on Channel 38 at 7 and 11:30, features a documentary on Hall of Fame broadcaster Curt Gowdy, who will be honored before today's Tigers-Sox game (NESN, 2 p.m.) . . . Guest appearances: Channel 7 made road trips to visit Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis and Red Sox prospect Craig Hansen in Portland, Maine, for ''Sports Xtra" (11:30 p.m.). David Ortiz is featured on ''Red Sox Report" (Channel 38, 10:30 p.m.), and Globe columnist Bob Ryan joins Bob Lobel on ''Sports Final" (Channel 4, 11:30 p.m.).
A heavy subject
ESPN's ''SportsCenter" starts a three-part series on the issue of 300-pound players in the NFL with this morning's (10:30) show. Tomorrow's segment deals with high school heavyweights and Tuesday's with NFL strategy in dealing with the health aspects of the issue . . . ESPN2 has today's men's final of the Pilot Pen tennis tournament (6 p.m.), the final stop in the series leading up to the US Open, which begins its run on USA and CBS tomorrow. USA has daily coverage from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and 7-11 p.m. daily this week and next Tuesday to Thursday. CBS has 39-plus hours of coverage in high definition the next two weekends. USTA officials are hoping the ratings momentum for the series continues for the Open. Ratings for the Sunday back-to-back telecasts of the men's and women's finals in the US Open Series of tournaments were up 14 percent this summer.
