CSN Philadelphia Preps for Three Simultaneous Live Broadcasts

The madness of March may be in the rearview mirror, but April is proving no less crazy for Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. With the MLB’s Phillies, NBA’s 76ers, NHL’s Flyers, and MLS’s Union currently in play and only so many hours in the day, schedule overlap cannot be avoided. Tomorrow will prove especially busy for the regional sports network, with three games occurring simultaneously from three venues in three cities.

Beginning at 7 p.m. ET on MyPHL, the Phillies will host the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park. The Philadelphia Union faces off against the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ, at 7:30 p.m. on WACP, with a simulcast on The Comcast Network. And, in their final game of the season, the 76ers take on the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena at 8 p.m. on CSN Philadelphia.

Luckily for production crews, the Flyers’ Stanley Cup Playoffs series with the New York Rangers begins on Thursday.

“Operationally, under the leadership of our president and GM, Brian Monihan, we spent several weeks pursuing various options that included the possibility of a fourth event, pending the NHL playoff schedule,” says Shawn Oleksiak, VP/executive producer, live events, CSN Philadelphia. “In conjunction with our team broadcast partners and our extremely busy program and operations staffs, the logistics have been ironed out. Now comes the fun part: the opportunity for our production teams to bring our viewers coverage of their favorite teams.”

CSN Philadelphia will deploy its primary home-production unit, NCPII, to cover the Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park. The network built NCPII last year, in conjunction with NEP, specifically for the network’s home show. The state-of-the-art 53-ft. expando works nearly 200 live sports events a year for CSN Philadelphia.

In Miami, CSN Philadelphia will use a local truck provider as part of the NBA visiting-telecast guidelines to cover the 76ers. In New Jersey, the network will follow MLS procedures and send a clean feed of the Union game back to its Philadelphia studios and add graphics, announcers, and additional production-value enhancements.

“Live events are what we do, and we have an incredibly talented group of producers, directors, and production staff ready to bring fans all the action,” says Oleksiak. “Producing three games simultaneously brings about some challenges, but I have complete confidence in our staff to produce award-winning coverage that our fans are accustomed to.”

Comcast SportsNet will have complete coverage of all three games on SportsNet Central airing at 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.