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.

Otisville-LakeVille First SBP Using Pixellot

January 31, 2017

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director
 

A challenge to schools wanting to stream live video of their athletic events to their communities is being able to adequately staff those productions.

“We had signed up for the School Broadcast Program over a year ago and we were really excited to get our games out to the community, and when it came to it, we just couldn’t get the manpower to run the equipment,” said Drew Johnson, the athletic director at Otisville-LakeVille High School in Genesee County. “That first day, we had everything lined up, we were ready to go, and two of our three kids missed school that day for being sick. It was just a hassle.

“So when we heard about Pixellot, it was a quick and easy decision.”

Just three weeks ago, LakeVille became the first school in Michigan and one of the first in the country to install a Pixellot unit in its gymnasium, automating the process of streaming live video on MHSAA.tv and the NFHS Network.

Pixellot is a unit equipped with four High Definition cameras that cover the length of the playing surface and then focus in on the ball and player movement to deliver the action.  The unit communicates with the scoreboard to insert a time and score graphic on the screen. Ambient audio is picked up by the device, but the play-by-play of an in-person announce team can also be patched in.

All that has to be done from a school’s perspective is type in the event schedule, and promote the fact that the games are available on MHSAA.tv. Pixellot does the rest. The unit can also be set up to isolate a camera on a fixed location, which allows for activities like wrestling to also be streamed.

“We’re going to do everything that takes place in our gym,” Johnson said. “We’re also excited about being able to record our practices as well.”

Johnson added that the school will look into installing additional Pixellot units at its middle school auditorium for musical events and LakeVille’s outdoor athletic fields in the future. 

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 On-Demand – 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 the schedule of events School Broadcast Program members plan to stream over the next week for broadcast at MHSAA.tv

Tuesday, Jan. 31

Wednesday, Feb. 1

Thursday, Feb. 2

Friday, Feb. 3

Saturday, Feb. 4

Monday, Feb. 6

Tuesday, Feb. 7

Be sure to check the Upcoming Events page at MHSAA.tv for schedule additions every day.

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.

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

Fans also can access scores of games in-progress on the NFHS Network website via ScoreStream. Click on the Scores button in the upper right corner.

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 highlights package consists of clips from last week’s Bark River-Harris at Powers North Central boys basketball game in which the Jets set a state record for consecutive boys hoops victories, an ice hockey game pitting Detroit Catholic Central at Brighton in a battle of two of the top teams in the state and a demonstration of Pixellot in action during a boys basketball game with Millington at Otisville-LakeVille

Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.

PHOTOS: (Top) A laptop shows the variety of angles for the Pixellot and the calibration of its four cameras. (Middle) This Pixellot hangs at midcourt at Otisville-LakeVille High School.