November 2006


Loyalist broadcasts student television to global audiences - joins OSTN

When the new global Open Student Television Network (OSTN) joined forces with ORION to bring the IP-based television channel to Ontario, Loyalist College, in Belleville, was the first to respond to the call for content.

After all, Loyalist students have been producing and broadcasting television programs for local audiences through community cable for several years. OSTN, however, expands Loyalist's TV audience to a truly, global level.

   

ORION recently signed an agreement with OSTN, the only 24-hour, seven-day global channel exclusively devoted to student-produced programming. The partnership brings the channel to Ontario colleges and universities and gives students and faculty a powerful platform to showcase their film, video and television productions to a global audience.

The Ontario network has also launched an ORION Student TV portal, transmitting a live multicast stream of OSTN programming.



Loyalist television students during the production of "TASTE" at the Belleville college's studio.

Cathy Goddard, Professor, Television and New Media Production says Loyalist has already submitted content to OSTN, notably its award-winning cooking show, "TASTE", as well as its half-hour weekly show "Quinteview", and others, including short feature films shot in HDV. Students also produce documentaries, music videos and public service announcements. "OSTN is very important for our students. It opens up so many new doors," she says.

Loyalist, which expects to host the OSTN channel on campus this fall and have it available on campus monitors throughout the college, is the type of school OSTN hopes to attract to the new service. Ontario institutions also looking to join OSTN include York University, the Ontario College of Art and Design, Fanshawe College, among others.

Nearly two dozen Ontario institutions currently offer film, television and digital media programs, and several are making student-produced content available for viewing, mostly through their web sites, including Humber TV and Western TV, for example.

OSTN provides a unique opportunity for exposure. The new channel now reaches a global audience of more than 34 million users, at 3,778 university member campuses and 36 countries in North America and Europe. That number is growing quickly.

The channel is delivered over the US Abilene network, which is managed by Internet2 (I2) in North America, and GEANT2 in Europe.

OSTN multicasts short- and feature-length films, documentaries, performing arts, news and cultural programs. Students create content and make programming decisions necessary for the network to appeal to its peer-viewing audience. It also provides students with resources, community, exposure and experience.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for Ontario film, video, new media and television students," says ORION President/CEO Phil Baker. "We're very excited about helping to showcase our talent to the world and to contribute to this wonderful global forum," he says. "We soon expect to see high-quality Ontario student content on OSTN, including films, animation and performance arts."

Participating in OSTN also allows ORION to showcase its multicast capabilities. ORION features the very latest in advanced network technologies and can support multicast feeds to member institutions.

"The partnership is a natural fit," said Prashant Chopra, Chief Executive Officer of OSTN. "This is OSTN's first expansion into Canada, and Ontario is its largest province. Thanks to this agreement, these students can view OSTN content via computer or television, and we are looking forward to their submission of quality content."

"We are thrilled that students and faculty from Ontario's universities and colleges can now view the programming and we're pleased to work with ORION to help students submit quality entertainment, sports, news and research content for distribution to peers," he said.

Andre Quenneville, OSTN facilitator for ORION, hopes that a similar channel can be launched here in Ontario, running over the ORION network and connecting to global R&E networks, ideally in collaboration with OSTN. "This an important first step," he says. "There is clearly interest among Ontario schools and we're confident this will introduce new opportunities for our students in the media industries."

Learn more at the ORION Student TV portal and view a live stream of OSTN content at www.orion.on.ca/research/orionstudenttv.html.

View streams of Loyalist College productions, including "TASTE" at www.tvloyalist.com.

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