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Pixellot Productions On Rise

September 19, 2018

By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

A year ago, Pixellot – the automated production solution for schools wishing to stream live video of their athletic events on the NFHS Network and MHSAA.tv – was in use at six schools across Michigan.

With the new school year underway, nearly two dozen schools are actively streaming events using Pixellot, with half of those schools streaming indoor and outdoor events. Several schools have more than two Pixellot units in place.

“Schools are finding that Pixellot provides a great opportunity to get a lot of their games out to their fans in a way they could never achieve,” said Mark Uyl, executive director of the MHSAA.  “We have some schools which are using a mix of their traditional, student-staffed, School Broadcast Program efforts along with Pixellot to be able to add subvarsity coverage; and schools going exclusively with Pixellot with installations at multiple venues.”

Pixellot units use from two to four High Definition cameras that cover the length of the playing surface and then focus 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 commentary of the public address announcer or the radio style play-by-play of an in-person announcing team also can 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 also can be set up to isolate a camera on a fixed location, which allows for activities like cheer and wrestling to be streamed.

Schools actively engaged in Pixellot productions now include: Ann Arbor Greenhills, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, Brighton, Calumet, Dollar Bay, Frankenmuth, Freeland, Fremont, Grand Blanc, Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian, Harrison, Howell, Kalamazoo Christian, Macomb Lutheran North, Manchester, Norway, Novi, Otisville-LakeVille, Ovid-Elsie, Plainwell, Saginaw Heritage, Saline, Stevensville Lakeshore, Warren DeLaSalle and Williamston. Schools using indoor and outdoor units include Cranbrook Kingswood, Frankenmuth, Freeland, Grand Blanc, Howell, Manchester, Norway, Novi, Ovid-Elsie, Plainwell, Saginaw Heritage, Saline and Stevensville Lakeshore. Additional schools will have their Pixellot units coming online soon.

More than 70 percent of the programming taking place this week on MHSAA.tv will be Pixellot productions, featuring a football game Friday evening with two of the top-ranked Division 1 teams facing off for the top spot in the Saginaw Valley League’s Red division. Grand Blanc hosts Davison at 7 p.m. Both teams are 4-0 overall and 2-0 in league play, tied with Lapeer for first place.

Here’s this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of video streams being produced by School Broadcast Program members and the NFHS Network:

Tuesday - Sept. 18

Wednesday - Sept. 19 

Thursday - Sept. 20

Friday - Sept. 21

Saturday - Sept. 22

Monday - Sept. 24

Tuesday - Sept. 25

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.

NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $9.95 a month. 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. School Broadcast Program participants also will be selling Season and Annual Passes at a discounted rate. A portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program. 

Highlights of games broadcast during the past week by MHSAA School Broadcast Program contributors feature a pair of close football contests – Marquette’s 36-35 overtime win over Escanaba and Howell topping Novi, 21-17 – and a volleyball match with Lake Orion defeating Oxford, 3-0.

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

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

MHSAA TV

Football League Contenders Face Off on MHSAA.tv, Bally Sports Detroit, State Champs! Sports Network

By Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

October 6, 2021

A trio of Friday (Oct. 8) football games with likely league title implications highlight another full week of broadcasts on MHSAA.tv and the NFHS Network, and MHSAA media partners.

In the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference, two of the three teams sharing first place face off as Stevensville Lakeshore (5-1) travels to St. Joseph (5-1). In the Kensington Lakes Activities Association East, tied-for-second-place Dearborn Fordson (5-1) will host first-place Livonia Churchill (6-0) in a matchup that could see the latter claim a share of the league championship with a victory. Both of those games will be streamed live on MHSAA.tv, with kickoffs at 7 p.m.

This week’s Bally Sports Detroit live cable game features the leaders in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Red as Caledonia (6-0) goes to Rockford (6-0). That game will be broadcast on BSD’s primary channel as well as online and on the BSD app. State Champs! Sports Network also will stream live on its website a meeting of league leaders Saturday as Warren Michigan Collegiate (4-2) hosts Harper Woods Chandler Park (4-2) for first place in the Charter School Conference East. Both games kick off at 7 p.m. on their respective game days.

Week 7 of the football regular season will see more than 175 games broadcast on MHSAA.tv, with more than 120 boys soccer games broadcast during the final full week of that sport’s regular season and more than 300 volleyball matches streamed live as that sport moves into its final month before District play begins.

See below for links to a number of notable events on the Network this week:

FOOTBALL
Oct. 8, 6:50 p.m.: Birmingham Groves at Rochester Adams
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Davison at Midland
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Stevensville Lakeshore at St. Joseph
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Utica Eisenhower at Macomb Dakota
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Portage Northern at Portage Central
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Holt at East Lansing
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Novi at Howell
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Livonia Churchill at Dearborn Fordson

VOLLEYBALL
Oct. 6, 6:15 p.m.: Flushing at Fenton
Oct. 7, 7 p.m.: White Lake Lakeland at Walled Lake Northern
Oct. 9, 10 a.m.: Bronson at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep

BOYS SOCCER
Oct. 6, 6:45 p.m.: Grand Rapids Northview at East Grand Rapids
Oct. 6, 7 p.m.: Walled Lake North at South Lyon
Oct. 7, 7 p.m.: East Lansing at Okemos

Click the links below to see all three sports’ listings in full:

Football – Volleyball – Boys Soccer

NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $10.99 per month. Subscribers have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country. School Broadcast Program participants benefit as a portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program.

More than 400 MHSAA member schools are participants in the School Broadcast Program, now in its 13th year, producing games using traditional hands-on student crews or via Pixellot cameras installed at stadiums and gymnasiums across the state. A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website.