LIVE on satelite TV
Fitchburg - Leominster high school football game
Fitchburg Access Television
Fitchburg, MA 01420
FATV
for release on receipt
Satellite transmission will be used to bring the annual
Fitchburg-Leominster high school football game live to
viewers at 10 AM Thanksgiving morning on FATV.
The FHS-LHS game, one of New England's classic and oldest
schoolboy football match ups can be seen in Fitchburg on
channel 36 and in Leominster on cable channel 56.
The telecast will originate from Leominster's Doyle Field,
and will be produced by the volunteer members of FATV, who
are in their second year of producing the only live
television of high school sports in the state, and one of
the few such in the nation.
Because transmission facilities do not exist at Doyle Field,
FATV members sought underwriting support to pay for the cost
of a satellite uplink and satellite transmission time. One
of FATV's major supporters, Workers' Credit Union,
underwrote last year's first live Thanksgiving Day telecast,
and has agreed to pay most of the satellite costs to get
this year's game on the air.
Frederick D. Healey, president and CEO of Workers, said the
Thanksgiving Day telecast "is a great way for us to show our
involvement in community life, enabling so many people who
won't be able to attend the game to see it in their home."
Remaining telecast costs will receive underwriting support
from a number of Leominster businesses.
The telecast will travel more than 52,000 miles round trip
from Doyle Field In Leominster to FATV's down link dish at
376 South St. in Fitchburg. On the ground, the distance from
Doyle to FATV is less than five miles. It will be carried on
Ku satellite GStar 4, Transponder 5 and will be in the
clear, which means home dish owners will be able to watch
the game should they so choose..
"Though no records are readily available, we believe this
will be the first satellite transmission of liwve sports by
an access facility"said Paul Wieland, executive director of
FATV.New England Satellite of Shrewsbury, which does many
major network sports transmission, will use a 38-foot-long
uplink truck which carries its own generator and some
production facilities. FATV will provide its own cameras,
tape machines, cables and graphics equipment, as well as
technical supervision and a volunteer crew.
For further information contact:
Paul Wieland
(508) 343-0834
fatv@rclink.net