NESN’s “Unobstructed Views” alternative broadcast for Red Sox games is the network’s “most utilized alt-cast,” delivering viewers a production that “could best be characterized as a watch-along, a casual broadcast designed to make the viewer feel like they’re watching at a bar or in their basement with friends,” according to Matt Vautour of MASSLIVE.
Finding the right lineup is “critical, especially in Boston,” and this broadcast is “built around personalities.” Former MLBer Jonathan Papelbon, who already worked for NESN, “checked a lot of boxes, which made him an easy choice.” He has been part of NESN’s desk rotation in pregame and postgame shows, but the “format handcuffs him.” The alt-cast “allows Papelbon, who has never been burdened by self-restraint, to be more natural.” Vautour writes hiring media personality Jared Carrabis “gave the show an instant audience.” He is a “popular writer and podcaster whose focus is the Red Sox, whom he has rooted for his whole life.” His personality “fits this format.” NESN added broadcaster Alanna Rizzo this year. She “gives the production a TV professional, a kind of point guard who can score.”
“Unobstructed Views” is not NESN’s only alt-cast, as it has “occasionally done a multiview broadcast that shows four different camera angles at the same time.” NESN has also “done a series of one-offs.” In July, they connected to the 50th anniversary of the Red Sox’s appearance in the 1975 World Series by “presenting a broadcast designed to look and feel like TV coverage from that season” (MASSLIVE, 9/24).
PLAYERS’ CLUB: In Pittsburgh, Jason Mackey notes SportsNet Pittsburgh’s Bucs BP program is where several former Pirates are “allowed -- if not encouraged -- to get as granular as possible” about baseball. The presentation “is fantastic.” As “frustrating as this season has been,” the emergence of Bucs BP has “been a rare bright spot, SNP and the Pirates combining to produce an all-access show once a homestand that rivals any regional sports network programming across the country.” The show serves as a “forum for current and former players to meet up and dive deep into the process, inevitably taking the conversation to a nuanced place.” The idea to “do something different during batting practice” started during the 2024 season. SNP Senior Dir of Production & Operations David Koppett and several others with the network “decided to add the concept of players talking to players on the field during batting practice, encouraging them to get as detailed as they want” (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 9/24).
