BUSD approves broadcast agreement with NFHS Network

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The Bonsall Unified School District board approved an agreement with the NFHS Network for the broadcasting of Bonsall High School and Sullivan Middle School sporting events.

The board's 4-0 vote Aug. 11, with Michael Gaddis absent, approved the agreement which provides the school district with a camera, a video portal, and software.

"It will allow anybody, local family and friends or faraway family and friends, to be able to enjoy their favorite player," said Eric Hendy, who was Bonsall High School's athletic director for five years.

Hendy stepped down as Bonsall's athletic director this year, although he will continue to coach. He began working on school broadcasts while he was still the Legionnaires' athletic director. He heard about the NFHS Network three years ago at a CIF symposium, and coronavirus attendance restrictions provided another reason for the broadcasts.

"Last year with COVID we wanted to find a way to stream for families," Hendy said.

The Bonsall athletic program utilized YouTube transmission of video taken. "We wanted to improve the quality of the broadcast," Hendy said.

The National Federation of State High School Associations partnered with PlayOn! Sports to create the NFHS Network which streams live high school sporting events.

"NFHS had a good deal," Hendy said.

Under the agreement, PlayOn! Sports will provide the Bonsall Unified School District with a Pixellot camera head, a workstation loaded with Pixellot software which can record and encode videos as well as stream videos, Cat6 ethernet cables which connect a workstation to the camera head to provide camera power, Pixellot automated production software for all supported sports, a score data device or optical character reader camera to integrate graphics into the video, a protective cabinet for the workstation if needed, a point-to-point wireless Internet base station if no hard-line Internet is available at the Pixellot venue, and software upgrades while the agreement is in effect.

The equipment will be provided at no charge to the school district. PlayOn! Sports will also provide on-call customer support, training, and account management. The camera will be operated remotely by the NFHS Network.

The school district will broadcast all regular-season varsity and junior varsity sporting events at the site of the camera (Bonsall High School does not have wrestling, so currently the only sports in the multi-purpose room which is used as a gymnasium are volleyball and basketball) and also grants PlayOn! Sports the right to broadcast postseason events.

No third party streaming of regular-season events which are deemed competitive with the PlayOn! broadcasts will be permitted, although the school may allow student-led groups to broadcast regular-season contests as part of a broadcast media curriculum program and may allow local television coverage to broadcast regular-season events.

Although Hendy no longer has the discretion, he would be willing to have students broadcast the sporting events in the future. "It's a wonderful idea. It would be a great opportunity," he said.

Initially there will be no audio broadcasts. "We're starting with camera only," Hendy said.

A school may also use the Pixellot system to schedule and record practices for internal use. Those sessions must be scheduled and will be marked as private rather than being available for viewing by consumers.