Montrose To Be Recognized Friday

September 13, 2016

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director

Montrose High School, the MHSAA School Broadcast Program of the Year for the third straight year, will be honored at halftime of the Flint Beecher at Montrose football game on Friday (Sept. 16). Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Montrose won the Program of the Year honor again in 2015-16 and was also honored by the NFHS Network as one of its Elite SBP schools nationwide. In addition to repeating as the top school in the program, Montrose captured first place honors in three of the five individual categories.

Montrose took first place in Best Student Play-By-Play (Eric Vandefifer and Conner Pyrc – Boys Basketball game v. Goodrich), and the top two spots for Best Produced Commercial/Feature (Eric Vandefifer, Conner Pyrc, Jared Adams, Mandy Ramsey, John Blackford – Ford Field Trip Feature; and Amanda Ramsey, Jared Adams, Alyssa Bernard, –  RAINN Sexual Assault PSA).  The program also took second and third place for Best Use of PlayOn! Sports Graphics (Eric Vandefifer, Conner Pyrc, Jared Adams, Mandy Ramsey, John Blackford – Boys Basketball game v. Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy; and Peyton Hobson, John Blackford, Conner Pyrc – Boys Basketball game v. Corunna); and third place in Best Multicamera Production (Eric Vandefifer, Conner Pyrc, Jared Adams, Mandy Ramsey, John Blackford – Boys Basketball game v. Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy). Montrose also demonstrated during the year a good blend of productions in a variety of sports covered, the ability to cover home and away events and an overall command of the PlayOn! Sports software used for graphics and inserting commercials/features during the course of productions.

The presentation will be shown live on MHSAA.tv as one of a number of live events being streamed online this year by School Broadcast Program members.

In its eighth year, the School Broadcast Program gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics.

The program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.  

All sporting events – live or delayed - are available on a subscription basis only for their first 72 hours online.  They become available for free, on-demand viewing approximately 72 hours following their completion.

Here’s this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of video streams available being produced by SBP members, as well as live stats from MHSAA member schools using Digital Scout:

Tuesday – Sept. 13

Wednesday – Sept. 14

Thursday – Sept. 15

Friday – Sept. 16

  • Football – Flint Beecher at Montrose – 6:45 p.m. – LIVE
  • Football – Escanaba at Marquette – 7 p.m. – LIVE
  • Football – Lansing Eastern at East Lansing – 7 p.m. – On Demand
  • Football – Farwell at Clare – 7 p.m. – LIVE
  • Football – Hillman at Rogers City – 7 p.m. – LIVE
  • Football – Oxford at Lake Orion – 7 p.m. – LIVE VIDEO & STATS
  • Football – Allendale at Comstock Park – 7 p.m. – LIVE VIDEO & STATS
  • Football – Star International Academy v. Detroit Cesar Chavez Academy – 4:30 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Livonia Churchill v. Plymouth – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Maple City Glen Lake v. Onekama – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Grand Ledge v. Okemos – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central v. Greenville – STATS
  • Football – Grass Lake v. Manchester – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Grand Rapids Christian v. Grand Rapids South Christian – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Oakland Christian v. Sterling Heights Parkway Christian – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Harbor Beach v. Marlette – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Eaton Rapids v. Fowlerville – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Grand Haven v. Holland West Ottawa – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Brighton v. South Lyon – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Hart v. Whitehall – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Grand Traverse Academy v. Marion – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Addison v. Napoleon – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Fenton v. Flint Kearsley – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Davison v. Flint Southwestern Academy – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Hanover-Horton v. Vandercook Lake – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Lake Odessa Lakewood v. Vermontville Maple Valley – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Corunna v. Goodrich – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Bellevue v. Adrian Lenawee Christian – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – New Boston Huron v. Monroe SMCC – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Grosse Pointe South v. Utica Ford – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Midland v. Mt. Pleasant – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Flint Hamady v. New Lothrop – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Iron Mountain v. Negaunee – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Houghton Lake v. Sanford Meridian – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Erie-Mason v. Hillsdale – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Calumet v. Houghton – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Saginaw Arthur Hill v. Bay City Central – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Laingsburg v. Potterville – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Owosso v. Lansing Waverly – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian v. Grandville Calvin Christian – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Port Huron Northern v. St. Clair – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Hemlock v. St. Louis – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Stanton Central Montcalm v. Newaygo – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Battle Creek Harper Creek v. Hastings – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Dryden v. Mayville – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – St. Clair Shores Lakeview v. Madison Heights Madison – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Adrian v. Tecumseh – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Portage Central v. Traverse City Central – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Lansing Everett v. Holt – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – North Muskegon v. Ravenna – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Coopersville v. Sparta – 7 p.m. – STATS

Saturday, Sept. 17

  • Football – Lutheran Westland v. Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest – 1 p.m. - STATS

Tuesday – Sept. 20

The NFHS Network has announced new pricing for 2016-17, eliminating the Day Pass and lowering the cost of a Month Pass to $9.95. Subscribers will have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country. All content becomes available for free, on demand viewing 72 hours after being shown live. Some schools also will be selling Annual Passes at a discounted rate. A portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program.

The SBP programming schedule is expected to expand now that school is in session across the state.  A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA website. Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office. 

A weekly staple on the MHSAA.tv website and the MHSAASports Channel on YouTube is back for another year with highlights of selected games last week produced by members of the Association’s School Broadcast Program. This week's package includes clips from the St. Clair/Clinton Township Clintondale and Traverse City Central/West football games, plus highlights from the Central/West "Patriot Game" festivities.

MHSAA.tv Live Postseason Views Approach 1 Million for 2020-21

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

July 14, 2021

Live postseason events streamed on MHSAA.tv during the 2020-21 school year were viewed nearly 1 million times, with 15 events drawing more than 10,000 live views apiece. 

The final championship weekend of the Spring – featuring Girls Soccer Finals and Baseball and Softball Semifinals & Finals, all across four divisions June 17-19 at Michigan State University – saw nearly 70,000 live views on MHSAA.tv despite record attendance of those events at Old College Field. 

The Division 2 Softball championship game – which ended with Owosso claiming its first Finals title in any sport, drew a weekend-high 5,677 live views on the network. The previous weekend, the Division 1 Girls Lacrosse Final won by Rockford on June 12 led the way with 4,284 live views.

The total number of live postseason views on MHSAA.tv for 2020-21 was 962,371. The most-viewed live tournament events were the Individual and Team Wrestling Finals, which with all rounds over all four divisions combined drew 244,044 live views. Among individual games broadcast solely by MHSAA.tv, the Division 3 Boys Basketball Semifinal matching Iron Mountain and Schoolcraft (15,393 live views) and the Division 1 Volleyball Semifinal featuring Novi and Lowell (13,484) ranked among the most watched.

MHSAA.tv is a partner of the NFHS Network. Postseason events streamed on MHSAA.tv included most sports’ Finals, and Semifinals and Quarterfinals for some – especially sports where multiple concluding rounds were hosted by the same tournament site.

MHSAA.tv also ranked second among NFHS Network contributing states with 18,973 live events (postseason and regular-season combined) streamed during the 2020-21 school year. That total of nearly 19,000 live postseason events was an increase from 7,710 events streamed live during 2019-20 and 3,900 during 2018-19, and placed Michigan behind only Illinois.

The School Broadcast Program is responsible for nearly all production of regular-season events. Having now concluded its 13th year, the SBP gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics. Rockford – one of the state’s largest schools with nearly 2,500 students – broadcast 242 events, drawing an SBP-high 74,437 live views and 89,604 total with on-demand replays included. Much smaller Pewamo-Westphalia, a school of 300 students, received the second-most views of SBP members in 2020-21 with 56,009 including live and on-demand. Marquette, Lake Orion, Cedar Springs, Montrose and McBain also were among top SBP providers.

In addition to bringing local events on air nationally, the School Broadcast Program gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions. NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $10.99 per month. Subscribers receive access to all live and on-demand video from across the country. School Broadcast Program participants receive a portion of every subscription sold by a school to benefit its program.

Broadcasts from the majority of Michigan schools – especially those lacking the ability to staff events for production – are streamed using a Pixellot automated camera. Michigan schools have 774 Pixellots in service, third-most in the country behind only Texas and California. Most Michigan schools have one camera at an outdoor stadium and a second at the main indoor gymnasium.

A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website.