{"id":82636,"date":"2009-03-16T15:16:24","date_gmt":"2009-03-16T19:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.sportsvideo.org\/blog\/2009\/03\/16\/nesn-teams-with-ncp-to-keep-red-sox-in-hd\/"},"modified":"2009-03-16T15:16:24","modified_gmt":"2009-03-16T19:16:24","slug":"nesn-teams-with-ncp-to-keep-red-sox-in-hd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/2009\/03\/16\/nesn-teams-with-ncp-to-keep-red-sox-in-hd\/","title":{"rendered":"NESN Teams With NCP To Keep Red Sox In HD"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Carolyn Braff<\/em><\/p>\n

For the fourth consecutive year, the New England Sports Network (NESN) will broadcast all Boston Red Sox games in high definition, but the big news in Beantown this season is a new mobile provider supporting all of those HD productions. A longstanding relationship with mobile truck provider NMT ends this season as NESN\u2019s mobile facilities contract was sold to NCP, effective March 2009.<\/p>\n

“As saddened as I am by the fact that I will not be working with my longtime friends and associates from NMT any longer, I am equally excited about working with Mike Werteen and NCP,\u201d explains Michael Narracci, senior coordinating director of Red Sox baseball for NESN. \u201cTheir reputation is exceptional and I think we will be a great team for years to come.”<\/p>\n

NCP is no stranger to baseball coverage, as the company provides facilities for other regional sports networks\u201d including MASN\u201d and baseball shows\u201d including ESPN\u2019s Sunday Night Baseball\u201d so Narracci is anticipating a seamless transition from one mobile provider to the next. Aiding in that transition will be the fact that NESN\u2019s home truck will remain the same, pending a new paint job.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur home truck, NMT HD 6, is going to be renamed NCP 12 as part of the deal, so for our home broadcasts there will be no change of facilities,\u201d Narracci explains. \u201cRoad facilities will be different, but we\u2019ve worked in a couple of NCP trucks on the road as substitute trucks, so we are familiar with them. I\u2019ve come across NCP trucks over the years and they are well-maintained and well-engineered. After the first day in their trucks it will be like old times.\u201d<\/p>\n

NESN will produce all Red Sox games, pre-game, and post-game shows\u201d both home and away\u201d in high definition for the fourth consecutive season, and will add 5.1 audio at home for the second year running. Select road games will also be produced in 5.1 surround sound this season.<\/p>\n

Several graphical changes this season will make all of NESN\u2019s broadcasts pop. The Pitch Zone graphic, provided by SportVision and MLB Advanced Media, is slightly wider this season, incorporating a home plate and batter\u2019s box lines within the graphic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives the viewer a little bit more relativity as to where the pitch actually was,\u201d Narracci explains.<\/p>\n

NESN\u2019s SportMedia-provided score bar will have a new color scheme for this season that Narracci says makes it more readable and less intrusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother thing we\u2019ve tweaked is at home at Fenway, we\u2019re returning with a robotic dead-center center field camera,\u201d Narracci says, noting that at the end of last season, the production team began experimenting with cameras, lenses and pan\/tilt\/zoom settings to find a new look for game-day productions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe finally found a combination of the three [camera, lens, pan\/tilt\/zoom] that we liked and we\u2019ll be bringing that back,\u201d Narracci says. \u201cWe really like the dead-center look; it gives you a very good look at left-to-right movement on the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for other technological add-ins Red Sox fans can look forward to this season, NESN is exploring other gadgets, but Narracci is wary of adding in technology just for technology\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always want to stay on the cutting edge of technology without becoming too intrusive into the broadcast,\u201d Narracci explains. \u201cWe\u2019re looking to do something new but we want it to be the right technology. We don\u2019t want to use it just because it\u2019s available.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opening Day is less than a month away, and SVG is counting down to the first pitch with a look at the regional sports networks responsible for producing games for all 30 Major League Baseball teams. SVG is stopping in with each RSN to detailing the news and expectations leading up to the 2009 baseball season one conference at a time. For the complete SVG 30 In 30 Index, click here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Carolyn Braff For the fourth consecutive year, the New England Sports Network (NESN) will broadcast all Boston Red Sox games in high definition, but the big news in Beantown […]\n More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82636\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.sportsvideo.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}