The Big Ten Network’s (BTN) StudentU program helps media students gain production experience while delivering live coverage of thousands of conference sports events. That hands-on education is getting a boost from Sony, with more than 20 HXC-FZ90 studio camera systems in use across the conference.
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StudentU plays a critical role in BTN’s educational mission and serves the 18 Big Ten Conference member institutions. Students operate cameras, call play-by-play, and handle production roles for thousands of streamed events on B1G+.
The program is designed to be a training ground as much as a production pipeline. Each Big Ten school is responsible for recruiting and training students, while BTN provides resources, equipment, and feedback.
“The idea is to put students in real production roles, whether that’s behind a camera or on-air,” said Rob Coons, BTN’s senior director of StudentU. “They’re working with the same professional tools they’ll see in their careers so when they graduate, they’re ready to enter the professional media industry.”
The scope of StudentU productions has grown dramatically. “When it first started, a single-camera stream with a score bug was the norm,” Coons said. “Now, we’re producing four and five-camera shows with replay, graphics, and all the broadcast-quality production elements you’d expect on television.”
Streaming quality has also evolved since the program’s early days, keeping pace with heightening fan and viewer expectations. This rising level of quality is essential, especially with many Big Ten sports also appearing on linear broadcast networks making comparisons inevitable. “Our challenge is to match audience expectations while still operating in a student-driven model,” said Coons.
The student-run streaming service is also a way to cost-effectively cover niche sports or events with smaller fan bases that, while popular with their audiences, might not warrant a full on-site production operation.
With the addition of four new institutions to the conference in 2024, BTN saw an opportunity to refresh its production gear as well as equip the new member schools for participation in the StudentU production program.
BTN found Sony’s HXC-FZ90 camera to be the right fit for the conference’s production requirements. Coons and his team considered the camera's price, quality, low-light performance, and particularly its versatile 4K digital zoom capability, which all combine to deliver professional, broadcast-quality performance in a student-friendly package.
“The price point made it accessible, but the real differentiator was image quality and the digital zoom,” Coons explained. “It gives us the look of a 40x or 80x box lens without the weight and complexity.”
Sony’s FZ90 cameras have quickly become a cornerstone of StudentU productions, delivering both production and educational benefits. Students gain invaluable experience on professional-grade equipment, while BTN audiences enjoy sharper, more dynamic coverage across a wider range of sports.
“The first time we put them in play, one of our executives emailed to say, ‘Wow, the new cameras look great,’” Coons recalled. “That kind of validation tells us we’ve made the right choice.”