Altcast

An alternate broadcast, also known as an altcast,^[1] is a secondary broadcast feed of a sporting event. Altcasts are designed to showcase an event from a different perspective, including specialty camera angles, extended analysis, simulcasts with alternative commentary (including personality-based broadcasts containing entertainment elements, or geared towards specific demographics), and other unconventional formats. These broadcasts are sometimes carried on secondary linear channels owned by the event's rightsholder, but are more often carried on digital platforms.

History

After its launch in 1993, ESPN experimented with using its new sister channel ESPN2 to carry alternative broadcasts of events from the main network, such as carrying a CART race entirely from the perspective of in-car cameras in 1994.^[2] In March 2006, to mark the one-year anniversary of its college sports channel ESPNU, ESPN introduced a format known as "ESPN Full Circle" during a North Carolina–Duke college basketball game; ESPN would carry the main telecast, while ESPN2 would carry an "above the rim" camera angle, ESPNU would carry a feed focusing on Duke's student section, the network's broadband service ESPN360 carried a statistics-focused feed, while ESPN.com and Mobile ESPN offered supplemental digital content and interactive features (such as polls and chat rooms).^[3] ESPN reported a total viewership of 3.78 million viewers (with 3.5 million on the main ESPN feed), making it the network's most-watched college basketball game since 1990.^[4] The Masters Tournament in golf would begin experimenting with supplemental webcasts that year, introducing an "Amen Corner Live" broadcast focusing upon Augusta National's 11th, 12th, and 13th holes.^[5]

ESPN would extend the Full Circle concept to other events, including a 2006 NBA playoffs opening game between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat in April (which featured most of the aforementioned offerings from the North Carolina–Duke game),^[6] and a Florida–Florida State football game in September—in which a split-screen feed of eight camera angles (including isolated shots of the teams' coaches and starting quarterbacks) was shown on ESPN2, and a skycam feed aired on ESPNU. The Los Angeles Times reported that the ESPN2 broadcast faced a mixed reaction from viewers, with one considering the split-screen format to be the "stupidest" thing they had seen in a sports broadcast since Fox's "glowing" hockey puck.^[4]

In 2014, ESPN revamped the Full Circle concept for the BCS National Championship Game as the "Megacast", with its networks carrying broadcasts such as "BCS Title Talk" (featuring celebrity guests discussing the game), a "Film Room" broadcast on ESPNU with extended examinations of plays by a panel of analysts, a commentary-free feed on ESPN Classic, a "Command Center" with on-screen stats on ESPN Goal Line, and other viewing options on ESPN3 (including simulcasts of the teams' radio networks with additional camera shots focused on their respective players). These offerings would continue into the College Football Playoff era, with other concepts such as special editions of The Paul Finebaum Show on SEC Network (particularly when a team from said conference is participating), and broadcasts with alumni of the opposing teams as analysts.^{[7][8][9][10]}

In 2021, ESPN2 began to carry Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli during selected Monday Night Football games, which featured brothers Peyton and Eli Manning discussing the game with celebrities and sports personalities. The entertainment-oriented broadcasts proved to be critically successful, and received a Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Sports Series in 2022. ESPN would enter into a long-term agreement with the Mannings' Omaha Productions to produce altcasts in a similar format for other ESPN sports properties (such as college football broadcasts featuring Pat McAfee).^[11][12][13] They also influenced similar offerings from networks such as TNT, which in 2024 broadcast a feed of the NBA All-Star Game featuring Inside the NBA panelist Charles Barkley and the Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green.^[14]

While an altcast may not be necessarily viewed as widely as the main telecast of an event, they can help expand interest in an event among wider demographics (such as casual viewers). They have also provided additional sponsorship opportunities, such as altcasts dealing in statistics often being sponsored by technology firms such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft.^[15]

Types and examples

Alternate commentary

A common form of altcast are feeds with different commentators to provide supplemental perspectives of an event. Examples of these can include:

• Feeds featuring current players or alumni as analysts (such as TNT's "Players Only" NBA telecasts).^[16] In some cases (such as ESPN's "Homer Telecast" format), the analysts may be alumni associated with the participating teams.^[17][18]
• Feeds with coverage specific to the participating teams, such as dedicated commentators and guests closely associated with the team or their region; Turner Sports used this format for the semi-finals of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.^[19][20] Alternatively, a feed may offer a simulcast of a team's respective radio network synchronized with the television coverage.^[17]
• Feeds featuring the panel of a studio show or podcast as commentators.^[21][22][23]
• During selected Thursday Night Football games, Amazon Prime Video offered an alternate commentary track with soccer commentators Ross Dyer and Tommy Smyth; the feed was designed for international viewers unfamiliar with the rules of football.^[24]
• Some altcasts—such as Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli—may be structured as an entertainment-oriented "watch-along", with hosts casually discussing the event with special guests (such as sports personalities and celebrities).^[11][12]
  • In 2018 and 2019, Prime Video partnered with Funny or Die to present a comedic broadcast of the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, hosted by Will Ferrell and Molly Shannon (who played the fictitious local newscasters Cord Hosenbeck and Tish Cattigan), and joined by fellow Saturday Night Live cast member Tim Meadows as a reporter.^{[25][26][27][28]}

Statistics and analysis

Some altcasts are built around analysis and analytics, including additional graphics with specialized statistics, commentary and analysis based around statistics, and the use of augmented reality graphics to visualize plays and statistics in real-time.^[29][30][13] A recurring "Megacast" offering on ESPN's college football coverage was "Film Room", which features a panel (usually including coaches and other analysts) performing extended analysis and breakdowns of notable plays, often featuring use of the wider "all-22" camera angle.^[31][32][33] In 2024, NBC Sports presented an NFL altcast sponsored by the Madden NFL video game franchise, which featured video game-style visualizations of play options and routes, and commentary by Chad Johnson and Kurt Benkert incorporating discussions related to topics such as in-game player ratings.^[34]

A similar type of altcast format is centered around sports betting, with coverage of the game being presented from the perspective of odds, props, and futures^[35][15]

Whiparound and split-screen broadcasts

A "whiparound" show is a format used for broadcasts featuring rolling coverage of multiple, simultaneous sporting events. These broadcasts typically feature real-time highlights, curated views of multiple events in a split-screen format, and isolated "look-ins" on events where potentially significant events are about to occur (such as when a team has a scoring chance).^[36]

In some sports leagues, whiparound broadcasts are not necessarily one-off altcasts, but a regular, standalone program that may be a component of a cable network or out-of-market sports package, such as the NFL RedZone channel (which operates on Sunday gamedays in the National Football League),^[36] MLB Big Inning (which is distributed as part of MLB.tv and the MLB Network over-the-top subscription),^[37][38] MLS 360 (on MLS Season Pass),^[39] CBS Sports' The Golazo Show (UEFA Champions League and Europa League),^[40] and ESPN's former Goal Line/Buzzer Beater/Bases Loaded channel (which formerly operated during the college football season, college basketball season, and the NCAA Division I baseball and softball tournaments respectively).^[41]

Whiparound feeds have also been used as part of one-off altcasts and special events; NBC has offered the Gold Zone for its coverage of the Olympic Games on Peacock,^[42] while ESPN has televised occasional whiparound specials such as MLB Squeeze Play (which is broadcast during the Wild Card Series,^[43] and aired several Wednesday-night editions in 2024 to cover the final weeks of the regular season),^[44] and NHL Frozen Frenzy—an event held since 2023 where all teams play games with staggered start times, ESPN airs a national tripleheader, and ESPN2 and ESPN+ airs a whiparound feed of all games in progress.^[45][46][47] Since 2008, ESPN has broadcast feeds of the NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championships with a similar split-screen format, with the early rounds offering a "quad-box" view of four simultaneous matches, and isolated coverage of individual matches available via streaming.^[48][49] In October 2021, Fox Sports 1 aired a whiparound broadcast of six simultaneous Big East basketball games as part of the opening night of college basketball season.^[50][51]

Youth broadcasts

There have been notable instances of alternate broadcasts tailored towards youth and family audiences. ESPN has offered a "KidsCast" broadcast for the Little League World Series and MLB Little League Classic, featuring students of the Bruce Beck School of Broadcasting.^[52][53]

The use of player tracking for analytics have also enabled entertainment-oriented broadcasts targeting youth: since 2021, CBS Sports and sister network Nickelodeon have partnered on altcasts of selected games aimed towards family co-viewing; all of the games have been called by Noah Eagle (son of sportscaster Ian Eagle) and Nate Burleson. The games have included augmented reality "filter" effects (such as a geyser of the network's trademark green slime on a touchdown, and replays with visual effects added to them), as well as cameo appearances by other Nickelodeon characters as "reporters" (played live in-character by their respective voice actors), attendees, or to provide additional explanations of rules, and other youth-centric features.^{[54][55][56][57]} These efforts culminated at Super Bowl LVIII in 2024, where CBS provided the Super Bowl's first-ever altcast.^[58][59]

In 2022, Prime Video partnered with the sports comedy troupe Dude Perfect to host a family-oriented altcast for selected Thursday Night Football games, interspersing coverage of the game with segments incorporating the troupe's signature trick shots and stunts.^[60]

Animated recreations

Altcasts featuring 3D animated recreations of live games—typically oriented at a youth audience—began to emerge in the 2020s. A 2023 ESPN NHL altcast was themed around the Disney Channel animated series Big City Greens, with players represented by avatars of characters from the series; Vincent Trocheck of the New York Rangers and Evgeny Kuznetsov of the Washington Capitals were represented by the series' lead characters Cricket and Tilly Green, with their respective voice actors providing live facial motion capture. The broadcast used technology from Beyond Sports, which leveraged the NHL's recently-introduced player and puck tracking system.^[61]

In 2024, TruTV aired a similar production using various Warner Bros. Discovery-owned characters (including Cartoon Network and DC Comics properties), in promotion for its video game MultiVersus.^[62] Beyond would later collaborate with the NHL on a regular Hockeyverse franchise, which includes a weekly television series for NHL Network that features animated highlights from a featured game, as well as themed, full-length game broadcasts in collaboration with regional team broadcasters such as NESN (Boston Bruins) and Sportsnet (Calgary Flames).^[63][64][65] Beyond also worked with ESPN on a Toy Story-themed broadcast in a similar style for an NFL London Game in 2023,^[66] and the Disney-themed Dunk the Halls for NBA Christmas Day games in 2024.^[67]