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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.

MHSAA TV Marches On The Mats

February 27, 2018

By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties   

Another big weekend of MHSAA Championships take place on Friday and Saturday (March 2-3) on MHSAA.tv, as March Magic marches onto the Individual Wrestling and Girls Competitive Cheer mats.

Live Finals streaming this week begins at noon Friday from Ford Field in Detroit at the Individual Wrestling Finals. Manned cameras will be on each of 20 mats on the floor, and broadcasts will include full graphics to indicate the participants in each match, plus full in-progress scoring information via Trackwrestling.

The Girls Competitive Cheer Finals at the DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids begin Friday evening with Division 1, followed by the other three divisions Saturday.

Here’s the complete wrestling coverage schedule:

  • Friday – Rounds 1-2-3-4 – Noon
  • Friday – Semifinal Round – 7:30 p.m.
  • Saturday – Rounds 6-7-8 – 8:30 a.m. - Round 6 at 8:30 a.m. is the third Consolation round. Round 7 at about 9:45 a.m. is the fourth Consolation Round. Round 8 at about 11 a.m. is the final round in the Consolation bracket.
  • Saturday – Finals – 3 p.m.
  • Saturday – Awards – 6 p.m. (TENTATIVE - Time approximate following conclusion of wrestling)

You can get to all of the wrestling action on a single landing page on the NFHS Network – Click Here.

Here’s the complete cheer coverage schedule:

  • Friday – Division 1 – 6 p.m. (East Kentwood, Grand Blanc, Grandville, Lake Orion, Rochester, Rochester Adams, Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, Sterling Heights Stevenson)
  • Saturday – Division 2 – 10 a.m. (Allen Park, Dearborn Divine Child, DeWitt, Gibraltar Carlson, Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills, Muskegon Mona Shores, Muskegon Reeths-Puffer,
    Southgate Anderson)
  • Saturday - Division 4 – 2 p.m.  (Addison, Adrian Madison, Farwell, Houghton Lake, Hudson, Merrill, Pewamo-Westphalia, Sanford Meridian)
  • Saturday - Division 3 – 6 p.m. (Charlotte, Comstock Park, Escanaba, Flat Rock, Lake Odessa Lakewood, Monroe Jefferson, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Richmond)

The continued Wrestling and full Cheer coverage is part of six straight weekends of live MHSAA Championship coverage on MHSAA.tv, and online viewers can catch every weekend of action for one low cost of $9.95. Over the next three weeks of live Winter championship coverage, the following events will be featured: 

  • March 8-10 – Ice Hockey Semifinals & Finals
  • March 13 – Girls Basketball Quarterfinals
  • March 15-16 – Girls Basketball Semifinals
  • March 20 – Boys Basketball Quarterfinals
  • March 22-23 – Boys Basketball Semifinals

In addition to all of the tournament action, regular-season coverage of contests by participants in the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program will bring more than 45 contests into homes over the coming week – including a number of District contests in Girls Basketball.

Here’s this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of video streams being produced by SBP members:

Tuesday, Feb. 27

Wednesday, Feb. 28

Thursday, March 1

Friday, March 2

Monday, March 5

Be sure to check “Upcoming Events” on the MHSAA.tv home page daily for last-minute additions.

In its ninth 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. Pixellot – The NFHS Network’s automated streaming solution – is used by schools wishing to live stream games, but lacking the ability to staff the events. The program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions. 

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

Highlights of games produced in the past week by MHSAA School Broadcast Program members

feature a girls basketball game, Powers North Central at Norway, and a boys basketball game, Fowlerville at Lansing Catholic.

Highlights can be found each week on the MHSAA.tv website, the home page of the MHSAA Website, and the MHSAASports Channel on YouTube.