Chronicle sportswriter Steve Kroner reports that because of some arcane broadcast contract machinations, this weekend’s Giants-A’s series will be double-covered with the Giants’ telecast on KTVU-TV(2) tonight and FSN Saturday and Sunday, and the A’s side on FSN tonight and KICU-TV(36) over the weekend. To make it even weirder, former A’s play-by-play man Greg Papa will be calling the Giants game, and ex-Giants color commentator Hank Greenwald will be doing the A’s game.

One other item of note for the series: Sunday’s KICU telecast will be another “Inside TV” affair, in which viewers can use the SAP function on their TVs to hear the interplay of director Mark Wolfson with the announcers, the photographers and the folks in the truck.

This is a cool look into the production side of a baseball telecast. Especially nice is that the commercial audio is replaced by the crew chatter, with the director usually arguing with the advertising executive about which spots need to be shown.

2004-06-28 Update:The “Inside TV” feature had some technical problems and has been rescheduled for this Friday, July 2, at 7:00 PM. Thanks to Program Assistant Lori of KTVU/KICU for the info.