Q & A with J. Stern of Ole Miss Sports Production

I recently spoke with J. Stern, Assistant Athletic Director for Ole Miss Sports Production. He was gracious enough to answer a few questions about Ole Miss productions.


I asked how OleMissSports.tv is doing. He stated that .tv is about to celebrate it's sixth anniversary in August. Ole Miss was one of the first universities to stream live video over the internet in 2001. He said that .tv is holding steady in numbers. There are no plans as of now to change the current subscription options. As for programming, .tv will continue with live sporting events, such as baseball and soccer. Also, .tv will continue to produce "South Zone Live", a show where Pete Boone answers questions from fans. "South Zone Live" will start again sometime in September. The university asked to stream Media Days in Birmingham but the conference does not allow live streaming of the event.


We talked about ongoing events and future plans for Ole Miss productions. Ole Miss productions is moving with the rest of the athletic department to the Old Physical building. He confirmed that Ribbon boards will be installed at both Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and the Tad-Pad. They will be installed at VHS in the next couple of weeks. The ceiling is being painted at the Tad-Pad and the video board is being repaired.


I was curious as to how long it takes to produce the coaches t.v. shows. He said that it takes 65-70 hours of man power a week to produce one show. The production team usually gets in around 6:00am on Sunday morning after the game. Coach O begins work on the show around 8:00 am and is usually finished with his part in an hour.


Finally, I asked him what we can do as Ole Miss fans to help the Athletic Department. Buy tickets, come to the games and dig deep, he said. He also confirmed that fans can designate exactly how they want their donations spent.


I thank J. Stern for taking the time to answer some questions. I am impressed with the friendlness and accessabilty of our athletic department. I applaud their efforts to address concerns and issues of the fans.


I encourage everyone to visit olemissports.com and check out .tv. There are two subscription options, a six month plan for $65 and an annual plan for $99.95. Faculty, staff and students receive a discount. For questions, email sportstv@olemiss.edu.