ECC Announces Partnership with BlueFrame Technology to Create ECC Network

Central Islip, N.Y. - The East Coast Conference announced on Thursday a partnership with BlueFrame Technology to create the ECC Network, a conference-wide video streaming platform. The three year deal will encompass all live-streamed video content for the ECC and each of its 10 member institutions.

"We are thrilled to announce  our partnership with BlueFrame as the ECC and our member institutions move to expand the web streaming of our events," said ECC Commissioner, Dr. Robert Dranoff. "One of our main goals as a conference is  to promote and  increase the visibility of ECC student-athletes and our schools as well as the conference and NCAA Division II." 

Each ECC member institution will have their own video portal available through their website in which live streamed video content will be available. Each broadcast produced by member institutions will also be available to view on the ECC's portal. In addition, as part of the agreement BlueFrame will develop over-the-top (OTT) apps, allowing ECC Network content to be viewed on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Android TV, and Roku devices.

The ECC is no stranger to BlueFrame Technology, as the league has used the company's Production Truck software to live-stream over 50 conference championship events, spanning 122 hours, since the beginning of the 2015-16 academic year. The Production Truck software will allow each ECC school the capability to produce multi-camera, high definition broadcasts with scoreboard graphics and other features such as instant replay and social media sharing.

The ECC Network will be partially funded by the Division II Foundation for the Future Grant. The grant was awarded by the NCAA during the 2016-17 academic year to each Division II conference with one of the intended purposes to increase broadcasting support.

Dranoff also stated, "With the help of the NCAA DII Foundation for the Future Grant, we look forward to working with our schools to provide regular and post-season game coverage as well as other types of video content."  

"This partnership is the culmination of a multi-year effort by the conference office and administrators at the league's member schools to improve webcasts throughout the conference," added ECC Assistant Commissioner for Strategic Communications, Casey Rafferty. "We've seen firsthand the quality of broadcasts that can be produced using BlueFrame's Production Truck and we're extremely excited that all of our schools will now be able to use this state-of-the-art software."

The ECC Network will debut in the fall of 2017. The ECC's 10 member schools will be required to stream all volleyball and basketball games during the 2017-18 season. Member institutions will also be encouraged to stream as many other sports as possible throughout the year. The league and its member institutions will also be able to utilize the ECC Network to produce other programming such as coach's shows, graduation ceremonies, and student-athlete profiles.

"BlueFrame is ecstatic to partner with the ECC to build their digital network," said Josh Braun, Director of Sales and Customer Service of BlueFrame Technology. "We've worked with the ECC in the past by providing our Production Truck software, but we are excited to see the entire conference and it's member institutions utilize our streaming service tools, and I believe they will be an excellent example of what a conference can accomplish using our end-to-end platform."

More details, such as website URLs for the ECC and member institution's video portals, as well as OTT apps, will be released throughout the summer.

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About the ECC

Founded as the New York Collegiate Athletic Conference in 1989 and rechristened the East Coast Conference in July 2006, the ECC was formed to enhance intercollegiate athletic competition among member institutions and to assist them in integrating athletics into their academic program in a fiscally sound way. The ECC is committed to the highest standards of scholarship, sportsmanship, teamwork, and citizenship. Its mission is to promote the total person concept in its student-athletes, which stresses the abilities to excel in academic achievement, athletic competition, and positive character traits. East Coast Conference members include: University of Bridgeport (Bridgeport, Conn.); University of the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.); Daemen College (Amherst, N.Y.); LIU Post (Brookville, N.Y.); Mercy College (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.); Molloy College (Rockville Centre, N.Y.); New York Institute of Technology (Old Westbury, N.Y.); Queens College (Flushing, N.Y.); Roberts Wesleyan College (Rochester, N.Y.) and St. Thomas Aquinas College (Sparkill, N.Y.). Associate Members include: Felician University (Rutherford, N.J.); Franklin Pierce University (Rindge, N.H.); Georgian Court University (Lakewood, N.J.); Holy Family University (Philadelphia, Pa.); Kutztown University (Kutztown, Pa.); and Lincoln Memorial University (Harrogate, Tenn.).

The ECC sponsors the following championship sports: baseball; men's and women's basketball; women's bowling; men's and women's cross country; men's and women's lacrosse; softball; men's and women's tennis; men's and women's indoor track and field; men's and women's outdoor track and field; men's and women's soccer; and women's volleyball.

About BlueFrame Technology

• Production Truck:  BlueFrame's proprietary live production and streaming software comes complete with four camera HD switching, four camera instant replay, sport specific graphics, social media sharing tools, and more.  The ECC  will capitalize on Production Truck's customizable graphics to consistently brand all of their broadcasts.  The social media sharing tools in Production Truck allow producers to easily capture and share highlights from the full production to promote their live streams in real time and engage new audiences.

• vCloud:  BlueFrame's cloud content management system provides the tools to put the ECC brand first.  Broadcast poster image, network lead-in, and content aggregation are all configurable by broadcast, by member institution, or for the whole network. The ECC Digital Network can leverage the network lead-in to have a member from each member institution welcome their viewership into every broadcast.  vCloud provides the flexibility for each institution within the ECC to select the service that meets their cost and quality goals.

• Playback:  ECC broadcasts can be viewed on desktop, on mobile, and now on internet-connected television devices anywhere in the world.  ECC broadcasts will be available live and immediately archived for on demand viewership.  This means fans of ECC can watch whenever, wherever, and on their platform of choice.

• Integration: By utilizing BlueFrame's end-to-end service, the ECC benefits from the seamless integration.  When a broadcast is scheduled, it is immediately available for their producers in Production Truck as well as for viewers on all of their ECC branded presences.