TUTV goes digital

TUTV, Tufts' very own student-run television network, has high aspirations for the upcoming fall semester, planning to run its programming in streaming video on the internet.

This decision was made in part because of the ambiguity of cable service for next year, as well as the desire to make TUTV available to faculty and other viewers outside the community.

The changes will also bring new programming to the network. TUTV Director Adrian Pellereau voiced his hopes that the station could provide more hours of new shows. "The policy has been, 'We make our own shows and we broadcast them,'" Pellereau said. One of his goals is to swim through the possible legal issues and offer content from other networks.

Pellereau also was excited about the capabilities that come with streaming-video. TUTV cameramen will be able to go to any location for shooting, and be able to send it back to the studios for broadcast with just an Ethernet cable. In addition, the "DVD quality" images will be accessible to all members of the Tufts community.

As a part of this drastic change in the ideology behind TUTV, all current shows will have to re-apply to be a regularly produced program. "Since we will be less reliant on purely new materials," Pellereau said, "every show has to be re-submitted."

This policy change was the basis behind the rumors of the cancellation of the popular show Jumbo Love Match. According to Pellereau, the rumors were a result of a miscommunication between the station management and JLM host Andy Katzenberg.

Katzenberg contends that last Tuesday, he was told that the show was "cancelled indefinitely" and that he would be given more information on Thursday, whereupon he was told that the show would continue to run this year, but would have to re-submit for next year.

"This seems like it would be a hassle," Katzenberg said, though he understood the reasons behind the change. On Thursday he was also told that he should refrain from showing on-air advertisements for college-boxes.com, an online merchant for which Katzenberg works.

JLM is Tufts' own take on the dating show genre, and is often highlighted by racy comments and risqu?© material. When asked if he would ever entertain a request to tone down the sexual content of the show, Katzenberg said, "A little bit, but it's a liberal school, and it's a comedy."

He also added that his primary goal for each and every episode of JLM is to entertain the studio audience and viewers on television. "If you don't like what you are watching," claimed Katzenberg, "change the channel."

Pellereau defused any controversy regarding the supposed cancellation of JLM by stating that "every show is technically cancelled" as it has to re-submit an application for next year. In addition, he pointed out that a large portion of the production staff is either graduating or studying abroad next year, leaving the staff for JLM up in the air.

Other local programming that could find its way back onto TUTV next fall include a Tufts news show, and the current sports show, Best Damn Interruption. Pellereau has high hopes for the former program, asserting that production would begin during Orientation week so they could begin airing as upperclassmen return to school.

BDI features junior Daily editors Elliot Wiley and Ethan Austin, as well as Katzenberg, as they discuss many issues going on in the world of sports. The title is a take-off on two widely successful "talking-head" sports programs, ESPN's Pardon the Interruption and FOX Sports Network's Best Damn Sports Show Period. Last semester, Wiley and Austin were joined by junior Colin Stewart, who is studying abroad this spring. Now the pair is joined by special guests to fill Stewart's spot, as well as Katzenberg, who comically said about his role, "I'm like Heather Locklear on Melrose Place: I'm always listed as a special guest, yet I show up in every episode."

It seems that TUTV is headed into the right direction by taking the technology available to them and using it to broadcast to a wider audience. Yet at the same time, part of the charm of the shows aired is their low-budget feel -- poor audio and all. In addition, if quality shows like JLM and BDI are not renewed as programs, it would be a terrible loss to the student community. Many people tune into the shows to see their friends enjoy themselves in a student activity, just as they would go to a Torn Ticket II show or a softball game. While the improvements sound exciting, lets hope they don't come at too great a cost.