NORTH VERNON — The Jennings County High School television classes have been busy this winter broadcasting home basketball games.
Fans may not be able to attend the game in person, but thanks to the students’ work they can sit and still enjoy the game safely in their homes.
All home boys and girls games have been broadcast live on YouTube and Comcast Cable Channel 96.
Senior Seth Young has been to all the games this year, and has enjoyed working the four-camera video switcher.
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“I’m glad that we have four different camera angles to choose from — it makes our games look like a professional, high-definition look,” Young said. “Having multiple, staffed cameras looks much better than just having one camera sitting high up from the top of a gym. It’s like being there in person.”
JCHS technology specialist Jeff Green said he feels that it’s important the games are broadcasted without charge.
“All of us at the high school decided from the beginning that we would broadcast our home games for free on YouTube and cable, rather than using a type of pay-per-view service,” he said.
JCHS Athletic Director Cory Stevens added, “We have people who have attended our basketball games for over 40 years, and we didn’t want them to miss any games, just because of a virus.”
Technology allows the students to bring the games home to every home with cable or internet service. Those with internet service can simply search JCHSStream on YouTube.
“I love what the kids are doing, but the one bridge we are still trying to cross is to convert our YouTube signal and turning that back around into digital cable television,” Green said. “Our Comcast cable equipment is analog and dates from 1984. That equipment has a simple video input, but that equipment is beginning to die, and there is no replacement for it. We will have to upgrade to a digital signal, like we did for our Cinergy cable customers back in October.
“We hope to have some kind of equipment solution for our Cinergy cable people next year so they can watch also.”
Green suggests watching the signal on YouTube for the best viewing experience.
“Because of the 40-year-old analog cable equipment, watching on YouTube will allow you to see the basketball game with six times the quality,” Green said.
