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Starting this fall, the University of Miami will switch cable service providers from Comcast to Campus Televideo (CTV).
CTV was founded in 1994 and provides cable to over 220 colleges and universities, including Florida International University, Brown University, Emory University and New York University.
“CTV is dedicated to college campuses,” said Jake Krupa, Student Government Treasurer. “It provided the U with the flexibility they are looking for.”
When the university’s contract with Comcast came up for renewal, the university opted to search for a new cable provider.
“Comcast is mainly focused on residential providers,” Krupa said. “However, it was extremely limiting to the school. There was no way we could make changes to the lineup.”
The CTV line up will offer UM 150 channels, 30 of which will be analog, 70 digital, and 50 HD. A panel of SG members chose 140 of the 150 channels available. UMTV, the school’s student-run TV station, will be included in this line up.
“We have filled 140 spots with the main TV everyone watches, “ Krupa said. “This includes five HBP channels, ESPN, all the major sports networks, science channels, two history channels, National Geographic, Discovery channel, the Oprah Winfrey network, literally just about any channel you could imagine.”
The remaining ten channels will be used to incorporate student request. CTV also hopes to have an online service that will allow any student with Internet access to stream TV online.
“It won’t be up and running immediately,” Krupa said. “But it’s something they have on other college campuses and it’s something we are moving for.”
Comcast will continue to carry UMTV for its subscribers in the city of Coral Gables.
According to Dr. Terry Bloom, the program director for the SoC’s electronic media department, airing shows in the community adds a professional dimension to the programming.
“There’s a huge difference to say to prospective students, ‘go play in the studios’ than to say ‘go play in the studios and produce a TV show for an audience,’” she said.