NESN collects six regional Emmys

New England Sports Network has won six New England Emmy Awards for the second straight year and at least one for the 11th straight year.

The total of six is the most the regional TV sports network has won in a year.

For the second consecutive year and third time in the last five years, NESN’s Boston Red Sox coverage earned an Emmy for best sports play-by-play coverage. Individuals involved in the coverage include play-by-play man Don Orsillo, analyst Jerry Remy, sideline reporter and former Bangor TV sports director (WVII, Channel 7) Eric Frede, executive producer Bill Borson, producer Russ Kenn, director Mike Narracci, and graphic coordinator Greg Petronzio.

NESN also earned Emmys for a second straight year in the non-news promotional spot (Heroes of Red Sox Nation) and commercial announcement (Diner, with Ray Bourque) categories.

NESN also won for sports feature (The Cabrera Handshake, which was produced and reported by Frede), sports series (Eagle Insider by Timothy Egan), and writing promotional or public service announcements (composite, by Jonathan Markella).

Frede, who was WVII’s sports director for two years om Bangor, and Dan Hannigan, the radio play-by-play voice of University of Maine hockey for Bangor all-sports radio station WZON (620 AM), co-own Kittery-based Cod Rock Media Productions, an audio-video service specializing in presentations and promotional material.

FSNNE shells out prizes for nuts

Fox Sports Net New England has grown from a fledgling regional cable network with a few thousand initial viewers to New England’s largest regional cable network serving 3.7 million households in 24 years, and it has millions of Northeast sports fans to thank for it.

This month, FSNNE is starting to do just that. A new Internet-based loyalty rewards program called FSN Sports Nuts has been introduced and will give viewers chances to win one-of-a-kind experiences, exclusive prizes, and consumer discounts.

To register for the program, viewers must log on to www.FSNnewengland.com, click on the Sports Nuts icon, get a username and password, and immediately enter a contest to win a high definition television. Registered viewers can accumulate points by watching for the nightly Sports Nut Buster on each New England Sports Tonight broadcast, participating in the nightly NEST 100 Point Poll, and by answering Boston sports trivia questions. Points can then be redeemed toward various showcase prizes posted on the FSN Sports Nuts Web page and valued at $20,000 each like a home theater system or a luxury box at a U2 concert.

FSNNE is the first regional sports network in the nation and the first broadcast-cable outlet in New England to establish a Web-based loyalty rewards program.

NESN takes a swing in Maine

New England Sports Network will help showcase four Maine golf courses featured in the current episode of Golfing the World, a golf and travel TV show created by BCN Productions.

Point Sebago Golf and Resort in Casco, Poland Spring Country Club, Dunegrass Golf Club in Old Orchard Beach, and The Ledges in York will share the spotlight on the show, which originally aired Thursday night, but will be repeated Sunday at 11:30 p.m. and Monday at 3 p.m

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net