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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

MHSAA.tv Schedule Includes Boys Soccer Matchups with League Title, District Seeding Implications

By Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

September 28, 2021

With the boys soccer season drawing to a close over the next two weeks, MHSAA.tv and the NFHS Network will feature a number of matchups in that sport that will impact league championship races and possibly the seeding of the top two teams in each District, the latter to be announced Sunday (Oct. 3).

A pair of games appearing on MHSAA.tv this week will have significant impacts on the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference title race. On Tuesday (Sept. 28), league leader St. Joseph (11-0-2) hosts Stevensville Lakeshore (4-4-2), and on Thursday (Sept. 30) second place Richland Gull Lake (13-1) hosts tied-for-third Portage Northern (7-4-3). Also Tuesday, Ottawa-Kent Conference White leader Grand Rapids Christian (9-4-1) takes on East Grand Rapids (6-2-5) in a matchup of the only two teams undefeated in league play, and Oakland Activities Association Red co-leader Troy (10-0-3) faces third place Rochester Hills Stoney Creek (9-3-3).

The majority of regular-season games will be played by the end of next week, with District play to begin Oct. 13. Seeding of the top two teams in each District bracket – determined by Michigan Power Rating (MPR) – will be determined from results through Saturday (Oct. 2) and announced Sunday (Oct. 3) on the MHSAA Website.

Week 6 of the football regular season again will see more than 150 games broadcast on MHSAA.tv, in addition to the weekly live streams by MHSAA media partners Bally Sports Detroit and State Champs Sports Network. On Friday, Bally will travel to East Grand Rapids for its annual rivalry matchup with Lowell; game time is 7 p.m. with the broadcast on Bally Sports Detroit PLUS, online and on the BSD app. On Saturday, State Champs will stream live the 1 p.m. matchup of Madison Heights Madison at Warren Fitzgerald.

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

FOOTBALL
Oct. 1, 6 p.m.: Clare at Marquette
Oct. 1, 6:45 p.m.: Paw Paw at Edwardsburg
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Clarkston at West Bloomfield
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Sterling Heights Stevenson at Clinton Township Chippewa Valley
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Grosse Pointe South at Macomb Dakota
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: New Lothrop at Ovid-Elsie
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Climax-Scotts at Adrian Lenawee Christian
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Detroit Catholic Central at Warren De La Salle Collegiate
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Cadillac at Traverse City Central
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Centreville at Cassopolis
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: St. Joseph at Portage Central
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Central Montcalm at Reed City

VOLLEYBALL
Sept. 28, 5:30 p.m.: Plymouth Christian Academy at Auburn Hills Oakland Christian
Sept. 28, 7 p.m.: Lake Orion at Clarkston
Sept. 29, 6:30 p.m.: Cadillac at Petoskey

BOYS SOCCER
Sept. 28, 6:30 p.m.: Stevensville Lakeshore at St. Joseph
Sept. 28, 6:45 p.m.: Grand Rapids Christian at East Grand Rapids
Sept. 28, 6:55 p.m.: Troy at Rochester Hills Stoney Creek
Sept. 30, 6:40 p.m.: Portage Northern at Richland Gull Lake

The MHSAA.tv schedule total includes more than 300 volleyball and more than 100 boys soccer matches this week. 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.