New England Sports Network The New England Sports Network ( or NESN [ NESS - en ] ) is an American regional sports cable and satellite television network that is owned as a joint venture between the 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 Boston Bruins and TD Garden ) . Headquartered in Watertown , Massachusetts , the network is primarily carried on cable providers throughout New England ( except in Connecticut in Fairfield County ) . NESN is also distributed nationally on satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network and as NESNNational via select cable companies . 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 broadcast by a national network . NESN also carries minor league baseball games , regional college sports events , various outdoor and sports talk shows , and delayed Premier League soccer games . NESN was , for a time , the New England carrier for Fox Sports Networks ( before SportsChannel New England joined Fox Sports Net ) . After that , until early 2006 , NESN carried 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 from Fox Sports Net . NESN was launched on March 21 , 1984 as a premium channel ; it was converted to a basic cable service in 2001 , a model that has since been copied by other companies through their respective launch of new regional sports networks . Sports coverage . Boston Red Sox . New England Sports Network has provided coverage of Boston Red Sox Major League Baseball games since the network ' s first broadcast day on March 21 , 1984 , when it aired a spring training game against the Detroit Tigers from Lakeland , Florida . Former Sox second baseman Mike Andrews served as the play - by - play announcer and Kent Derdivanis provided 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 . 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 - and post - game shows . Unlike previous seasons where it split coverage with broadcast television stations , it now broadcasts all Red Sox games that are not nationally televised , using the slogan " One Nation , One Network " . In 2006 , it 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 NESN HD – available to cable providers throughout New England , DirecTV , Dish Network , AT & T U - verse ( in Connecticut ) , Comcast ( in most of New England ) and Verizon FiOS . For Red Sox game broadcasts , Don Orsillo serves as the play - by - play announcer , with Jerry Remy as his color commentator and Gary Striewski serving as the field reporter . In 2009 , Jerry Remy took an indefinite leave of absence due to illness . 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 in August of 2009 . Pre - game . One hour before each Red Sox game , Tom Caron hosts " Red Sox First Pitch " and " Red Sox Game Day Live " , in which Caron and others , 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 upcoming team , 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 its Fenway Park studio . Since 2003 , NESN has broadcast its pre - game show from Yawkey Way when the Red Sox play at Fenway Park . For road games , the pregame shows originate from NESN ' s Watertown , MA studios . Post - game . 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 the night ' s game from the studio . The team presents highlights and statistics from that day ' s game and often have a member of the Red Sox team 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 ; in those instances " NESN Sports Today " immediately follows the game . Since 2006 , NESN has broadcast the postgame show from its Watertown studios ; it had previously been broadcast from its Fenway Park studio . Boston Bruins . 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 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 . , 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 . Bruins coverage has expanded since NESN took over exclusive rights to the team ' s games ( which it previously shared with WSBK - TV ) . The pre - game show is " Bruins Face - Off Live " and the post - game show is " Bruins Overtime Live " , with the focus similar to the Red Sox shows , along with the weekly magazine program " The Instigators Live " ( after the post - game show on Thursdays ) and the highlights program " Big Bad Bruins Live " during the season ( live before the pre - game show on Saturdays ) . Dale Arnold serves as host of the pregame and postgame shows , along with analysts Gord Kluzak , Barry Pederson , and Billy Jaffe . Arnold co - hosts " The Instigators " with Jack Edwards , Andy Brickley , Jaffe , and others , while Dale Arnold hosts " The Big Bad Bruins Show " . College sports coverage . NESN ' s " Hockey East Friday Night " showcases college hockey games from all ten Hockey East teams , including Boston College and Boston University . In addition , NESN airs the Beanpot tournament , the Hockey East playoffs and the Hockey East championship game . Tom Caron primarily handles the play - by - play for college hockey coverage , with Craig Janney or Billy Jaffe serving as color analyst . Game coverage also includes analysis from John Chandler and Brendan Walsh . For the Beanpot , either Boston Red Sox announcer Don Orsillo or Tom Caron have traditionally handled the play - by - play in past years , with Boston Bruins announcer Andy Brickley handling color commentary . NESN also airs Atlantic Coast Conference ( ACC ) college football and basketball games . The network ' s ACC telecasts are usually produced by Fox Sports Net . In August 2014 , NESN began to air college sports from Sinclair Broadcast Group ' s American Sports Network — adding coverage of Conference USA , the Patriot League , and other mid - major NCAA conferences . Other sports events . NESN airs several minor league baseball games from the Pawtucket Red Sox each season , as well as Futures at Fenway , a doubleheader featuring the PawSox and the Portland Sea Dogs . Eric Frede formerly handled the play - by - play with Ken Ryan as color commentator . Since 2008 , NESN has aired the New England Regional Little League Tournament each August . Currently , Tom Caron and Adam Pellerin handle play - by - play duty for the tournament , while Bob Montgomery serves as the color commentator . NESN also broadcasts tape - delayed matches of select Premier League games televised by Fox Soccer Plus . Most games feature Liverpool F . C . , which , like NESN , is owned by New England Sports Ventures . NESN also airs soccer and tennis games . Other programming . Special programming . Each year since 2002 , NESN and WEEI have partnered to hold a " radio - telethon " to raise money for the Jimmy Fund . The 36 - hour NESN / WEEI Jimmy Fund Radio - Telethon is held for two days annually each August , and is simulcast on WEEI and NESN . WEEI radio programs are seen on NESN , featuring interviews by the hosts with cancer patients and survivors , doctors and athletes and celebrities ( some of which have included Terry Francona , Mike Lowell , Denis Leary , Jimmy Fallon , Donald Trump and the late George Steinbrenner ) . Many other Red Sox players and Boston athletes take part in the Radio - Telethon and in pre - game ceremonies at Fenway Park . Since 2002 , this event has raised over $ 37 million for the Jimmy Fund and has received donations from all 50 states . Graphics . NESN utilizes borders of different coloring on its graphics depending to the event being aired , which include red for Red Sox games , gold for Bruins games , blue for NCAA games and " NESN Sports Today " broadcasts , and green for golf and tennis events . NESN maintains a sports ticker , called " The Edge " , which appears at the bottom of the screen similar to the " BottomLine " used by ESPN ; it appears only at 20 and 50 minutes past each hour during live event telecasts , and throughout the program during non - sports telecasts . Related services . NESN HD . NESN HD is a high definition simulcast feed of NESN that broadcasts in the 1080i resolution format . When the HD feed launched in 2006 , promotions for NESN high definition game telecast used tagline was " Red Sox Tradition in High Definition . " The feed broadcasts of Red Sox and Bruins games in high definition , along with other original programming . NESNPlus . When two sports events that NESN has the rights to conflict , NESN carries one of those events and carries the second on a second channel called " NESNPlus " . Originally Comcast systems utilized New England Cable News or CN8 for NESNPlus , while other systems placed NESNPlus on an otherwise unused or local public access channel . DirecTV added NESNPlus in both standard definition and high definition on April 11 , 2009 . Some ACC telecasts may also be moved to NESNPlus in the event of a conflict with NESN ' s Red Sox or Bruins coverage , especially when a televised Boston College sports event takes place . NESN posts updated channel listings in nesn . com / nesnplus for most all events that run on the station . NESN National . NESN National is a separate feed of NESN for cable systems located outside of New England . It carries alternate programming during Red Sox and Bruins games , but does air the network ' s pre - game and post - game shows . Launched in September 2010 , the first provider to carry the feed was Time Warner Cable on its systems in North and South Carolina . Bright House Networks added it on its Michigan systems on November 1 , 2010 . NESN National differs from the national feed of NESN that is available on DirecTV and Dish Network , in which Red Sox and / or Bruins games are viewable outside of New England with a subscription to MLB Extra Innings and / or NHL Center Ice .