A plan is in the works to get state high school football and basketball championship games - as well as other sports - streamed live on the Internet.

The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission is looking into the possibility of putting some of its title games and events on iHigh.com, a website devoted to streaming sports and activities for high schools and smaller colleges across the country.

"We're working with the situation, trying to get a platform with iHigh - we don't have it yet,'' said Gary Ray, executive director of the SSAC. "Also, we have our football and basketball championships televised with Suddenlink and MetroNews, so we would have to be in agreement with them.

"There's nothing firm yet. We're looking into it for some other sports, too - not so much live as delayed for the state events. There are a lot of things we have to do yet, but we think it's time for our office to take a look at some of those issues. Are we investigating it? Yes. Have we made any firm commitments yet? No. But it's time to get a little bit progressive with the technology we have at our hands with the Internet.''

Network West Virginia, a division of Suddenlink Media, has televised the three football title games on a tape-delayed basis the last several years. The MetroNews Television Network has carried the last 20 boys AAA championship basketball games.

Cable systems in several parts of West Virginia - including the Northern and Eastern panhandles - do not carry Network West Virginia, however, so the iHigh possibility could bring the state's championship events into more homes.

The facilities at iHigh.com provide high schools, colleges and other youth-related organizations with free web tools and video streaming to connect their activities with the Global Youth Network. There are eight regional iHigh offices around the country, including Lexington, Ky.

Bernie Dolan of Wheeling's Super Six committee also mentioned the iHigh.com possibility Wednesday after his group was awarded rights to again host the Super Six football games for the next four years at Wheeling Island Stadium.

Presently, Wheeling Park streams its boys and girls basketball games on that website. Dolan is the principal at Wheeling Park.

"A lot of [states] are doing it now,'' Ray said. "We're looking to try to get our events out to the public more, and the vehicle that most people are used to now is the Internet, so we're taking a strong look at it. That's my goal. We want to get our events with our kids into as many homes as we can.''

Ray said the SSAC has already had preliminary talks between its Board of Directors and iHigh representatives.

"We don't have anybody in our office that's dedicated to that kind of work,'' Ray said. "I know some associations around the country do, but we don't have that luxury, so we'll look at what we can do.

"For example, we could do a lot of our own [work] at something like the state cross country championships. Hopefully, we can do something for our next cross country meet [to stream it] on a live basis. Some sites may already have the technology and some may not. That will play into it as well, what's available to us.''

Ray stressed that anything related to iHigh for the football or basketball championships would have to be agreeable with its current television partners.

"We'll sit down and talk to them,'' Ray said. "We're on very friendly terms. We have a good relationship with them. With the other events, we don't have any issues. We have some options we're looking at, and we're excited about them.''

Reach Rick Ryan at 304-348-5175 or rickr...@wvgazette.com.