Send Comments to the Editors

U.S. Mail:
The Rice Thresher
6100 Main Street (MS-524)
Houston, TX 77005-1892

CATV, the cable television advisory group, approved the creation in principle of a student-accessible cable channel. CATV will also establish a student advisory board to address remaining constitutional, procedural, infrastructure and funding questions.

The idea for a student cable channel began last spring when Sid Richardson junior Kyle Cranmer created a television promotion for the Sid Richardson College Tower Party, intending to broadcast it on Rice cable. But getting his promotion on the air was a long, arduous process, according to Cranmer, who had to obtain permission from Sid Master John Bennett, Vice President of Student Affairs Zenaido Camacho and Director of Management Services Charles Fix.

However, Cranmer's efforts brought about the desired effect. "It drew a lot of attention, because it was unique," Sid senior Jonathan Chan said.

The success of Cranmer's innovative advertisement prompted a meeting between the college presidents and representatives of various interests at Rice that might contribute to the creation of a student-oriented cable channel. "From that meeting came CATV, the cable television advisory group," Sid President David Hindman said. Hindman and Baker College President Stella Hines represent the student body in the group. Other groups represented in the advisory group are Academics, Administration, Information Technologies, Management Services, Athletics and Fondren Library.

Following the creation of CATV came the new possibility of a student cable channel. "Basically, we have a real asset in the cable TV channels," Fix said. Fix, who helped make Cranmer's original cable advertisement possible, now heads the advisory group and helped make available the university's media resources for the creation of the new channel. "Now we're at a point in [this project's] maturity where we can ask, `How can this asset be used?'" Fix said. "We're looking for guidance and direction ... and this group has been formed so we can get input from [different departments at Rice] and get the guidance we need."

Besides providing a forum for members to discuss possibilities for the new channel, the board will also investigate the legal and technical issues that surround this new venture, such as copyright law and intellectual property. For example, the board will investigate questions such as "Does [Rice] own the lectures that professors give, or do the professors themselves?" Hindman said. "So far, we've been talking about the infrastructure [of the channel] and the conceivable issues that arise as a result of starting a cable channel at Rice," he said.

"We want to be as creative as possible, but also responsible at the same time," Hines said.

Now that a student cable channel has become a real possibility, however, all involved said they now need student initiative and participation. "We want to form a Rice Cable Television Student Association Board to establish a policy by which groups and individual students can submit tapes to be broadcast," Hines said. "We need this policy to determine how videos will get screened [and] how videos will get on [the channel]."

Although, CATV will select the initial core of five students to represent the board, the three branches of the CATV Student Advisory Board will be open to any interested students.

"I really think that it's important that the students have a say in it, and that the students get involved in it," Will Rice College President Jeremiah Helm said. Each branch will handle a different aspect of maintaining the television channel. Production will focus on acquiring greater production and technological capabilities to increase the multimedia opportunities available to students and groups. Recruitment will concentrate on involving as many organizations, students and events as possible with the channel. Technical will handle submitted tapes and the channel's multimedia technology to put programming on the air.

While the student cable channel currently has no equipment of its own, "Information Technologies has been real supportive," Hines said. "They've got all these gadgets to use; they just need people to use them. And we want to use them, and we're taking them up on their offer."

While the student cable channel has its basic technological infrastructure in place, specific details, such as the exact channel number of the student station and the procedure for submitting a tape to be broadcast, will remain unresolved until the formation of the CATV Student Advisory Board. Both Hines and Hindman hope that, as the student board adopts a constitution and develops, it will be able to address these issues with Information Technologies and Management Services.

"Right now, the student cable channel is under [the administration of] the Student Association," Hines said. "What we envision is that, after the CATV Student Advisory Board becomes a student organization of its own, we can [receive funds directly from the university] and apply to resources such as the President's Program Fund."

"Hopefully, things will start to gel in the next couple of weeks," Hindman said. Once the logistics have been worked out, Rice students can expect to see a variety of programs on the new cable channel," he said.

Cranmer said, "I would hope to see the channel used as a forum for Rice students' own creative work, whether in the form of films made for classes, independent animation or film shorts or entertaining shows made specifically for Rice students." Other possibilities include the broadcast of class lectures, club announcements, athletic tournaments and competitions and promotions for college-sponsored events.

"I think it's great," Wiess College President George Fotinos said. "We have this medium that we haven't tapped into yet, not just for publicity, but also for expressing Rice's artistic energies."

Brown College President Kevin Graham agreed. "Moving forward with the Rice cable channel is a bold step for Rice as we tap into a resource that can really impact the students in a wonderful, zany way."

This item appeared in the News section of the September 26, 1997 issue.