State football coverage expands
FSN Net Prime Ticket’s coverage of the three state high school football games Saturday from Home Depot Center has an additional outlet with a deal in place to simulcast them all live over Vootage.com for the first time.
“We’re excited to see how this works as a test,” said FSN vice president/general manager Steve Simpson. “The byproduct is that people will get to see these games all across the country.”
Vootage.com co-founder Jeff Proctor said his website had the live local TV feed of the Arizona state football playoffs last weekend and “it went off without a hitch. I think Fox saw a benefit of finding another way to get its coverage out there. We’ll share any DVD or digital download sales as well, so it’s a win-win situation.”
This is the second year of FSN’s coverage of the state bowl games. Chris McGee and John Jackson will do the broadcast of the St. Bonaventure-Central Catholic Div. III game at 11:30 a.m., with Jim Watson and Petros Papadakis doing the Oceanside-Novato Div. II game at 3:30 p.m. as well as the Centennial-De La Salle Div. I game at 7:30 p.m. Lindsay Soto and Brandon Hancock anchor the day’s coverage. Dain Blanton and Jackie Pickering report on the sidelines.
Soto will end up being on the air for about 12 hours, something she did a year ago as well.
"Last year turned out to be really fun and not as crazy as you'd think, despite all the moving parts," Soto said Thursday.
"I'm really looking forward to the Division I game because sinde De La Salle lost to Canyon in last year's state title game, they've made it clear they're brokenhearted and their goal was not just coming back to the state title game but winning it. Last year was the first time since 1991 since they ended the season with a loss."
Soto, meanwhile, has signed a new deal with FSN that will allow her to do more outside work – including, perhaps, report for NBC during its 2008 Summer Olympics in China.
“She’s not leaving; you’ll see the same amount of her, but it’s just under a different structured contract,” said Simpson. “Her work ethic is beyond compare and she’ll continue to do a great job for us.”