High School Sports, Band Events to be Broadcast

Lights. Camera. Broadcast.

The Hatboro-Horsham School Board on Monday approved a bid in the amount of $41,390 for McGoldrick Electric, Inc. to complete a pre-wiring project at Hatters Stadium. That expense is in addition to the $18,790 that the board approved last month to have the following the recent completion of a nearly $1 million installation project.

Superintendent Curtis Griffin said the hope is to have the wiring installed and ready to broadcast the Hatters home Thanksgiving Day football game against Upper Moreland. Griffin said he did not know if that timeframe could be met.

The end goal, Griffin said, is to move from just broadcasting football games to branching out to broadcast all of the high school's home sporting events, marching band competitions and, eventually, graduation.

"I want to broadcast graduation, not only on the TV, but on the Internet," Griffin said, adding that the Web would allow out-of-town family and friends to watch.

As for whether or not that would be a possibility by next year's graduation, Griffin said it was too early to tell. "You always set a goal," he said.

Griffin said he could not determine a true cost of broadcasting each event. The district does not pay a fee for use of the cable channel, he said. And some of the school's broadcast journalism students, in conjunction with paid staff, would help operate the equipment.

"The cost is equipment, cameras, wirings," Griffin said.

In other business, the board approved two other capital projects totaling $38,000. The first, a sidewalk embankment stabilization at was awarded to Land Tech Enterprises, Inc. in the amount of $24,375 and the other project, a well irrigation, also at the high school, was awarded to F.L. Bollinger and Son in the amount of $13,766.