Twenty new TVs were installed in MacHall, creating a partnership between the Students’ Union and NUTV.
“The new TVs are part of what we are calling The Loop, the electronic bulletin board network,” said vice-president operations and finance Patrick Straw. “The purpose of The Loop is to have a consistent flow of information to the campus community for people who come into our building.”
Ten TVs will have NUTV programming. The other 10 will be controlled by the SU.
The SU, university and clubs will be able to put information on The Loop. It launched on Wednesday, Sept. 14.
“It’s also environmentally friendly,” said Straw. “We used to have a big room where we’d have stacks and stacks of posters that every week we’d be putting them up and then taking them down.”
Eight out of 22 poster boards in MacHall have been taken down.
“We will continue to monitor throughout the year as to how much exactly we are saving but our projections have us at a 36 per cent reduction in total printing,” said Straw.
The infrastructure update was the result of a Quality Money grant costing $174,760.
“We also used sponsorship with Rogers to help finance the ongoing cost of it,” explained Straw. “They cover the cost of running it, the upkeep cost.”
NUTV is excited about the new TVs.
“The new screens are the face of NUTV and NUTV has gotten a major facelift,” said executive director of NUTV Dominique Keller.
Second-year English major Reina Fleet commented on the TVs saying, “I haven’t really noticed them yet, but maybe as the year goes on.”
All TVs are hardwired to the ‘brain’ of the system located in the NUTV offices.
“We desperately needed an upgrade,” said Keller. “Our last system was built around 11 years ago.”
NUTV will offer the same services as before, such as free advertising for clubs and non-profits and their flagship show, Full Frontal.
“The really exciting thing is that we now have the capacity at NUTV, which we’ve never had before, to close-caption our shows,” said Keller. “You’ll actually be able to read what is going on.”
There is now a closed-captioning job available to students.
“We have the ability to be more interactive with the students,” said Keller.
NUTV was previously running on channel 17 and now will be running on a closed circuit system, which is more stable.
NUTV is also planning on expanding its programming to include documentaries made over the summer and archival material.
“It has the ability to have a library on it,” Keller explained of the new system, “similar to how CJSW has a music library.”
Keller commented how future generations of NUTV members can build on work created previously, instead of starting from scratch every time. Another vision that Keller has is to provide an opportunity for student filmmakers and local filmmakers to get their work out to a large audience.
“That’s what motivates our members, getting their work out,” said Keller.