AUGUSTA — A Vermont company that’s worked with several Maine colleges won the rights to live stream the state’s high school basketball regional tournament semifinals and finals.

Northeast Sports Network, which formed in 2006 and is based in Lyndonville, will live stream all 60 regional semifinal and final tournament games from the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, the Augusta Civic Center and the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.

“We are pleased to find interest in the regional semifinals and finals,” Maine Principals’ Association director Dick Durost said. “It was important to us to find someone who could do the games at all three sites. It was also our desire to have some type of coverage across the state. Moving from TV to streaming is what the world is like today.”

“I think everybody appreciates Maine basketball,” added Eric Berry, president and CEO of NSN. “I understand how passionate Mainers are about basketball and the tournament. I understand the magnitude of it all.”

Berry added that NSN submitted a bid “of around $10,000” to secure the live streaming rights.

The agreement is for one season.

“If everything goes well, it gives them a leg up,” said Durost, who also added the MPA received about six bids, although some didn’t include rights fees. “We wanted to make sure we didn’t lock ourselves into something that may not work. I think this gives us both the opportunity to stand back and look at the relationship.”

With the agreement, all boys and girls basketball tournament games — excluding the prelims — will be available to fans either online or on television.

The National Federation of State High School Associations will live stream all 72 regional quarterfinal games while Maine Public Broadcasting Network will air the 10 state championship games.

Berry, who coaches girls basketball at Lyndon Institute in Vermont, said NSN already has established connections in Maine.

“We currently deliver most of Colby’s athletic events,” he said. “We also do stuff for Bowdoin, Bates and a little bit at Thomas (College). We’ve been at Bowdoin for a little more than three years now. We work with a lot of colleges and high schools. We are looking forward to delivering a high-quality product for basketball fans in Maine.”

Colby sports information director Bill Sodoma said NSN will cover about 100 athletic events on campus this year.

“This is our second year with NSN and we’ve gone from 65 events last year to more than 100 this year,” Sodoma wrote in an e-mail. “We’re doing all of our home hockey and basketball games this winter in HD. Our conference office and nearly all of our fellow schools in the NESCAC are using NSN. I think that says a lot about the quality of work they do.”

With the agreement, NSN will provide high-definition live video streams. Furthermore, the production will include three camera angles as well as instant replay. Games will also be viewable on smart phones, tablets and smart televisions.

NSN plans to hire local play-by-play announcers and color commentators for the tournament games.

“We are pleased because this company will have individuals who know Maine basketball do these games,” Durost said. “There’s a good chance people won’t be able to tell it’s an out-of-state company doing the games.”

Berry added that he is familiar with the basketball tournament venues.

“We have not toured any of them but we’ve seen the sites before,” he said. “I’ve been to them as a coach and as a fan.”

Bill Stewart — 621-5640

bstewart@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @billstewartMTM