needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . november 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message nesn launched march 21 1984 1984 03 21 owned by fenway sports group 80 % delaware north 20 % picture format 1080i hdtv 480i sdtv country united states language english broadcast area new england via cable nationwide via satellite and select cable providers headquarters watertown massachusetts website nesn.com availability some events may air on overflow feed nesn plus due to event conflicts satellite directv 628 hd sd nesn plus 628 1 hd sd dish network 434 hd sd 5434 hd nesn plus 450 sd 9573 hd cable comcast boston nesn 13 sd 851 hd nesn plus 84 sd 894 hd comcast hartford nesn 28 sd 200 hd nesn plus 84 sd 1650 hd rcn boston nesn 367 sd 612 hd nesn plus 60 sd 600 hd available on most other cable systems in primary market area and select other systems elsewhere in the u.s. consult your local cable provider or program listings source for channel availability nesn n s. n the new england sports network is an american regional sports cable and satellite television network that is owned by new england sports ventures a joint venture between fenway sports group which owns a controlling 80 % interest and is the owner of boston red sox and liverpool football club and delaware north which owns the remaining 20 % interest in the network and owns the td garden . headquartered in watertown massachusetts the network is primarily carried on cable providers throughout new england except in fairfield county connecticut which is part of the greater new york city media market . nesn is also distributed nationally on satellite providers directv and dish network and as nesn national via select cable providers . nesn is the primary broadcaster of the boston red sox and the boston bruins serving as the exclusive home for all games that are not televised by a national network . nesn also carries minor league baseball games regional college sports events various outdoor and sports talk shows and tape delayed broadcasts of premier league soccer games . contents 1 history 2 sports coverage 2.1 boston red sox 2.1.1 pre game 2.1.2 post game 2.1.3 list of announcers 2.2 boston bruins 2.2.1 pre game and post game coverage 2.3 list of announcers 2.4 college sports coverage 2.5 other sports events 3 other programming 3.1 former programming 3.2 special programming 4 on air staff 4.1 current on air staff 4.2 notable former on air staff 5 related services 5.1 nesn hd 5.2 nesnplus 5.3 nesn national 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit nesn launched on march 21 1984 originally operating as a premium channel . the network s inaugural telecast was a spring training game between the boston red sox and the detroit tigers from lakeland florida with former red sox second baseman mike andrews serving as the play by play announcer and kent derdivanis providing color commentary . nesn periodically sent guest color commentators to the booth among which included rico petrocelli bill monbouquette and dick radatz ; the in studio host was sean mcdonough . citation needed in 1996 nesn became the new england affiliate of fox sports net carrying the network s national sports and magazine programs ; this lasted until 1998 when then fsn parent news corporation acquired partial ownership of cablevision owned sportschannel new england and its sister networks turning it into an fox sports regional network as fox sports net new england now csn new england . nesn reaffiliated with fox sports 15 years later in september 2013 after the now renamed and comcast owned csn new england dropped fsn programming . nesn converted into a basic cable service in 2001 a model that has since been copied by other companies through their respective launches of new regional sports networks as well as similar conversions many of which predate nesn s transition of those that began as pay services . afterwards until early 2006 nesn carried simulcasts of espnews during the afternoon and overnight hours . nesn has carried regional atlantic coast conference college basketball games since boston college joined the conference including games distributed for national broadcast for and by fox sports networks . in 2013 nesn through fenway sports group placed a bid to acquire the new england media group from the new york times company which would have placed it under the common ownership of the boston globe ; fenway dropped out of the bidding in july . 1 2 on august 30 2014 the network became a charter cable affiliate of the american sports network a sports syndication service founded by the sinclair broadcast group with its first asn broadcast being a college football game between the old dominion monarchs and the hampton pirates . 3 nesn and nesn national also agreed to carry certain games from the inaugural season of the fall experimental football league in october and november 2014 . 4 sports coverage edit boston red sox edit nesn has provided coverage of the boston red sox s major league baseball games since the network s initial spring training game broadcast upon its march 21 1984 launch . nesn now carries full coverage of red sox games with the exception of some games nationally broadcast on fox and espn as well as in depth pre game and post game shows . for its first two decades nesn split coverage with broadcast television stations in the team s market territory with an increasing number of games moving to nesn . since 2006 nesn is the exclusive home of all red sox games that are not nationally televised using the slogan one nation one network to signify this . in 2006 nesn became the first regional sports network to broadcast all major league baseball games in high definition however spring training games continued to be broadcast in standard definition until 2012 through the launch of its simulcast feed nesn hd . for red sox game broadcasts don orsillo serves as the play by play announcer with dave o brien as his color commentator and gary striewski serving as the field reporter . in 2009 remy took an indefinite leave of absence for most of the season due to health complications stemming from his november 2008 lung cancer surgery . during that season dennis eckersley performed the color commentary for home games and dave roberts provided commentary for most road games . remy returned to the booth that august . 5 on august 25 2015 nesn controversially 6 7 8 announced that orsillo would no longer call red sox games following the 2015 season and would be replaced by dave o brien who has called games for the red sox radio network since 2007 in 2016 . 9 10 pre game edit one hour before each red sox game the network broadcasts the pre game shows red sox first pitch and red sox game day live in which host tom caron and other contributors including hall of famers dennis eckersley and jim rice along with former major leaguers tim wakefield and steve lyons provide highlights from the previous game analysis on the sox s upcoming opponent player profiles news from around the league and their keys to the game . nick cafardo and peter abraham make regular appearances on game day live . in 2006 nesn introduced a segment on fridays before the pre game show called friday night fenway which showcases pre game activities from inside fenway park before red sox home games that day . nesn s studio shows were originally broadcast from the network s fenway park studio . since 2003 nesn has broadcast its pre game show from yawkey way during home games held at fenway park . for road games the pre game shows originate out of nesn s main studios in watertown massachusetts . post game edit following each game telecast nesn airs w.b. mason s extra innings and red sox final in which tom caron and one or more of the studio analysts from the pre game show deliver a wrap up of that night s game from the studio . the team presents highlights and statistics from the preceding game and often have a team member of the red sox on hand to get their take on the game . this hour of coverage also focuses on the game to be played next on the preseason seasonal game schedule as well as news from the league . the post game is usually not covered if the red sox play a game held on the west coast ; nesn sports today immediately follows the game in those instances . since 2006 nesn has broadcast the postgame show from its watertown studios ; it had previously been broadcast from its fenway park studio . 11 list of announcers edit years play by play color studio field level 1984 kent derdivanis mike andrews 1985 1987 ned martin bob montgomery sean mcdonough 1988 ned martin jerry remy eric reid 1989 1992 ned martin jerry remy bob kurtz 1993 1994 bob kurtz jerry remy steve burton amy stone 1995 bob kurtz jerry remy tom larson kim walden 1996 1999 bob kurtz jerry remy bob rodgers debbi wrobleski 2000 bob kurtz or bob rodgers jerry remy bob rodgers or tom caron with rico petrocelli debbi wrobleski 2001 don orsillo jerry remy bob rodgers with rico petrocelli debbi wrobleski 2002 2003 don orsillo jerry remy bob rodgers with jim corsi jim rice or dennis eckersley tom caron 2004 2005 don orsillo jerry remy tom caron with jim rice dennis eckersley sam horn gary disarcina or bob tewksbury eric frede 2006 don orsillo jerry remy tom caron with jim rice dennis eckersley or dave mccarty tina cervasio 2007 don orsillo jerry remy tom caron with jim rice dennis eckersley dave mccarty ken ryan or ken macha tina cervasio 2008 don orsillo jerry remy tom caron with jim rice dennis eckersley dave mccarty lou merloni or ken macha heidi watney 2009 don orsillo jerry remy or guest analyst tom caron with jim rice dennis eckersley or guest analyst heidi watney 2010 2011 don orsillo jerry remy tom caron with jim rice dennis eckersley or peter gammons heidi watney 2012 don orsillo jerry remy tom caron with jim rice dennis eckersley matt stairs or peter gammons jenny dell 2013 don orsillo jerry remy tom caron with jim rice dennis eckersley tim wakefield or peter gammons jenny dell 2014 2015 don orsillo jerry remy tom caron with jim rice dennis eckersley tim wakefield and or steve lyons gary striewski 2016 present dave o brien jerry remy tom caron with jim rice dennis eckersley and or steve lyons gary striewski boston bruins edit bruins coverage on nesn began in 1984 ; fred cusick served as play by play announcer and johnny peirson as color analyst for both nesn s games mostly home contests as well as coverage of mainly road games broadcast by then independent station wsbk tv channel 38 . in 1985 nesn dropped pierson as analyst and replaced him with dave shea . terry o reilly joined the telecasts the following season . derek sanderson became the analyst after o reilly left nesn to become head coach of the bruins in 1987 . nesn broadcast some games during the 1988 and 1990 stanley cup finals . as of 2014 update jack edwards handles the play by play duties during games while andy brickley serves as the color analyst . jamie erdahl serves as the reporter at ice level . since the 2006 07 season nesn has broadcast all bruins games in high definition . pre game and post game coverage edit bruins coverage has expanded since nesn took over exclusive rights to the team s games in the 2002 03 season which