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One month into the tenure of David Wisnia as president and chief executive officer of the NESN regional sports network, the company is preparing to launch a new FAST channel that will be distributed across the United States. NESN Nation will provide content surrounding Boston sports teams, such as the Red Sox and Bruins, to fans around the country as the network engages in a content strategy that builds on innovation and audience expansion. Revealing the creation of such an outlet coincides with the 40th anniversary of NESN broadcasting sports for the first time. The news of adding a FAST channel to the NESN portfolio was first reported by Anthony Crupi of Sportico.
Wisnia is succeeding Sean McGrail in the role, who worked for NESN over the 40 years it has been on the air. McGrail is continuing as senior advisor to the board of directors at the company as Wisnia takes on responsibilities of overseeing both NESN and SportsNet Pittsburgh. Prior to landing this new job, Wisnia held roles with FOX Sports, CBS and MGM Studios, but he had most recently worked as managing director at Alvarez & Marsal, a global management consulting firm.
“We will be launching a FAST network across the nation,” Wisnia said. “We haven’t announced exactly the time frame, but it’s something that we’re super excited about.”
Over the last several years, there has been a proliferation in free, ad-supported streaming television channels across the country. Roku created its own FAST outlet earlier in the summer, and MSG Networks introduced a FAST optionality to its offerings as well. Several popular sports programs, such as Up & Adams and The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, air on FanDuel TV and DraftKings Network, respectively, evincing synergies with sports betting companies. Paramount Global presents additional sports media content on its CBS Sports HQ FAST channel, along with its CBS Sports Network linear outlet. NESN is now slated to join the fold as it continues creating and producing new content disseminated through digital outlets.
“For now and the foreseeable future, our MVPDs are still great partners and they pay significant sums to carry our content,” Wisnia explained. “At the same time, digital is where the growth is, and it’s where the consumer is going. So, you’re running parallel paths and you’re transitioning over time as consumers transition over time and thus the focus is on controlling what we can control. Market dynamics are constantly going to be changing, so you pivot as need be, given those dynamics.”
NESN is co-owned by the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins and serves as the broadcast home for regional broadcasts surrounding both teams. The outlet reaches 4 million homes across nine designated market areas and is distributed on various cable and over-the-top media platforms. NESN launched a direct-to-consumer platform in June 2022, allowing fans to purchase subscriptions to view content from the network without a traditional cable television subscription through a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD).
