Indiana's NineStar Connect delivers electricity, broadband, water and sewer services to members in central Indiana—as well as the best seat in the house for fans of the Greenfield-Central High School Cougars.

Through NineStar Now, the Greenfield-based co-op's livestreaming app, and a collaboration between the co-op and the school, devoted Cougar fans can catch the live “Game of the Week" or any of 60 local high school sporting events on demand.

Under a multiyear contract, Greenfield-Central High School's radio/TV program is responsible for the content that currently reaches 2,360 accounts.

Subscribers to the co-op's 1-gigabyte plan can stream free, but it's available to anyone for a nominal fee.

“You can live in the territory or in Bangladesh," says David Spencer, the co-op's director of marketing and community engagement. “As long as you have an internet connection, you can get the streaming service."

The co-op revived the high school program after the city of Greenfield withdrew its support 13 years ago. At that time, students filmed city council and government meetings and co-op meetings for NineStar's Channel 9, the co-op's now-defunct cable TV station.

“We thought this would be a good opportunity for us to have something that makes us a little different than our competitors," Spencer says.

When the co-op ended the cable station in 2022 to focus on broadband, the high school partnership remained. NineStar Now rolled out in 2023, as John Painter, the co-op's video services manager, and the student crews produced a game plan.

“We've done games in very inclement weather over the years," says Painter, who works with and mentors the students. “We've done football games with driving, blowing cold rain, not to mention sleet and snow. When the game's over, we have to tear down by rolling up many feet of cables and getting all of the equipment back to the truck and packed away for transport."

When there's not a game, the crews film co-op town halls and other events in Hancock County.

A 30-year co-op employee, Painter enjoys sharing his knowledge with a younger generation and has formed fond memories of past jobs dueling with the elements that sometimes leave the crews “borderline unrecognizable from being covered in rain and mud."

“They're just great kids and so mature, more than you would think," says Painter, who often works with students on weekends when many of the games are held.

“Getting through the broadcast sometimes is truly an endurance challenge, but these kids battle to maintain focus to continue to keep the cameras focused on the action despite being wet, cold and miserable."

While the radio and TV program receives a steady source of funding to stay alive, students gain a lot, too. The co-op provides stipends and, most importantly, valuable “real-world opportunities," says Jonathan Hudson, a program instructor with Greenfield-Central High School.

“A lot of these kids go on to study broadcasting at Ball State [in Muncie] or Indiana University [in Bloomington], and NineStar and working with a professional gives them a big advantage," he says.

Hudson says the school is grateful for the partnership with NineStar.

“Because of what they've done for us, when they need help with anything, we are always happy to provide facilities, equipment, students, crews, whatever they need."

For the co-op, the partnership has supplied a steady stream of unique content—girls softball has the most viewers—as well as another avenue to engage members.

Crews are continuing to shoot annual meetings (or “town halls," in the co-op's words), board elections and interviews with co-op experts on new technologies.

Sometimes, the crews cover community news.

“Whatever information we want to record and disseminate to our members, we can do through the streaming app," Spencer says. “We're trying to give a local flavor and content of our community to our members to give them a reason to take our internet and streaming."