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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.

Montrose Wins Top SBP Award Again

April 18, 2017

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director

Montrose High School maintained its spot as the “Program of the Year” in the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program Excellence Awards in 2016-17, claiming the top honor for the fourth straight year.

The SBP Excellence Awards will award certificates and plaques to the schools which took individual honors, with the presentation dates and times to be announced.

Montrose took first place in Best Multicamera Production, Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Sports Graphics, Best Use of PlayOn! Sports Graphics and swept the top three spots in the Best Produced Commercial/Feature category.

Montrose became the first SBP school to produce live coverage of its entire regular-season football schedule during the 2016 season, continued to demonstrate good blend of productions in a variety of sports covered and an overall command of the PlayOn! Sports software used for graphics and inserting commercials/features during the course of productions.

Other category winners were Negaunee High School for Best Highlight and Lake Orion High School for Best Play-by-Play.

Other criteria used in selecting the top program awards were sporting events produced, where East Lansing High School headed the list followed by Comstock Park High School and Montrose, and subscriptions sold, which was led by Calumet High School followed by Negaunee, Lake Orion and Marquette High School.

Here is the complete list by categories of the schools and students being honored in this year’s SBP Excellence Awards:

Best Highlight

First Place – Negaunee – Evan Hassell, Keegan McGonigle, Hannah Skewis – Football game vs. Charlevoix.

Best Multicamera Production

First Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, David Sackrider, Elyssa Climie, Ben Dennings, Sam Wade, Jared Adams, Noah Rowe – Football game vs. Birch Run.

Second Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, David Sackrider, Peyton Hobson, Noah Rowe, Cameron Tupper, Sam Wade, Randal Smith, Amanda Conrad – Football game vs. Corunna.

Third Place – Lake Orion – Micah Williams, Ben Wellman, Brad Daenzer, Brandon Morrow, Gracen Zotter, Jack LaBounty, Rachele Pozzo – Boys Basketball game vs. Birmingham Seaholm.

Best Play-By-Play

First Place – Lake Orion – Brad Daenzer and Ben Wellman – Boys Basketball game vs. Oxford.

Second Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer and David Sackrider – Football game vs. Birch Run.

Third Place – Lake Orion – Brad Daenzer and Ben Wellman – Boys Basketball game vs. Birmingham Seaholm.

Best Produced Commercial/Feature

First Place – Montrose – Jared Adams, Elyssa Climie, Eric Vandefifer – Mike Young Buick/GMC Commercial.

Second Place – Montrose – Elyssa Climie, Jared Adams, Camryn Blair, Molly Dunton, Sarah Jones –  Ford Field Trip Feature.

Third Place – Montrose - Eric Vandefifer, David Sackrider, Jared Adams – Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association MSU-U of M Tailgate Luncheon Feature.

Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Graphics

First Place – Montrose – David Sackrider, Elyssa Climie, Sarah Jones – Boys Basketball game vs. Flint Kearsley.

Second Place – Cedar Springs – Noah VanKampen – Boys Soccer game vs. Greenville.

Third Place – Negaunee - Evan Hassell, Hannah Skewis – Football game vs. Calumet.

Best Use of PlayOn! Graphics/Software

First Place – Montrose – David Sackrider, Elyssa Climie, Sarah Jones – Boys Basketball game vs. Flint Kearsley.

Second Place – Negaunee – Robby Williams, Travis Nelson – Girls Basketball game vs. Iron Mountain.

Third Place – Montrose - Carter Inman, Reco Delacruz, Camryn Blair, Jared Adams, John Blackford – Boys Basketball game vs. Burton Bendle.

Spring sporting events are beginning to populate the MHSAA.tv website, with this week’s schedule featuring action on the track and the baseball, lacrosse and soccer fields.

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 live video streams being produced by SBP members (All times Eastern):

Tuesday, April 18

Wednesday, April 19

Thursday, April 20

Saturday, April 22

Tuesday, April 25

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. 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.