BTV re-equips, plans a comeback

Brown Television may have gone dark the past few semesters, but students currently involved with the station say that BTV will not be gone for long.

After inheriting a station that had remained mostly dormant throughout the 2006-07 school year, a group of students say they are trying to build a solid foundation on which BTV can grow.

"We are currently working on gathering content to broadcast," Elizabeth Backup '08 said. Backup and other BTV managers Jad Joseph '10, David Notis '10 and Kevin Volk '08 have been trying to figure out what programming Brown students would want to see, devise a scheduling system and reorganize the group's third-floor office in Faunce House, she said.

"Right now, we aren't working on anything glamorous," Backup said. "It is important to take the time to build the station's infrastructure in order to make a sustainable community to get people together to make their dreams come true."

Founded in 1987 by Doug Liman '88, now a Hollywood director, BTV was "big and ground-breaking, with lots of programming," Backup said. Since Liman's involvement, the channel has gone through many incarnations. Recently, the station has focused on showing commercial films, but managers plan to discontinue that content. "We will no longer be showing commercial movies - once we get off the ground again - which will result in a much lower cost structure," Volk said.

When the four current managers took over the station, they inherited an organization that was in "hibernation with only two seniors as managers," Backup said. Since BTV didn't focus on new programming, but rather showed commericial movies and reruns of old programs, it suffered from a lack of student interest and involvement.

"There was no BTV community to keep track of organizing the station," Backup said.

With the gears in motion to reorganize BTV, the station managers are looking ahead at how to make the station more accessible to student filmmakers. "We really want to show content that we already have, in addition to showing new student content. Hopefully, we can get some more equipment to give student directors access to proper editing technology," Volk said.

While working with outdated equipment, some of which had dated back to BTV's founding, the station managers are satisfied with new computers that they have received from Ed Huff, multimedia instructional coordinator, Volk said. The new technology will make it easier for the station managers to update their scheduling system and work on the actual student broadcast, he said.

Volk is confident that with the right amount of funding, BTV will return to its original prominence on campus. "We canceled our contracts with our content provider and got $12,500 back from the company. As a Category III club, we hope the (Undergraduate Finance Board) will be cognizant and helpful as we try to grow," Volk said.

So far BTV has not made any funding requests to UFB, said UFB Chair Ryan Mott '09.

"The current members have worked really hard this year, and we would all really like to see the station get back to where it was," Mott said.

In April, student groups will either submit their budgets and fill in a template or seek supplemental funding from UFB, Mott added. This funding is allocated to the various student groups on campus, including the 150 Category III groups, of which BTV is one, Mott said.

"We would definitely be willing to help them get more equipment, but may not grant them their old contract due to the group's past history," he said.

In terms of making a proposal for funds to UFB, BTV is still trying to get a better sense of what it needs, Joseph said. "We haven't made up a proposal yet," he said.

"We are really interested in producing comedic programming as well as dramatic productions and coverage of student events. BTV is important because in a digital age, it seems silly that media technology is not readily available to non-MCM concentrators at Brown," Joseph said.

BTV has a high level "of interest on campus in student productions from academic projects to a variety of student interests, and BTV is working to develop collaborations to better support these interests," Ricky Gresh, director of student activities, wrote in an e-mail.

"This has definitely been a rebuilding year, and I am optimistic that a restructured BTV will be a better resource for students and others interested in production and will support the transmission of student-generated content and performances to a wider campus audience, rather than just being a channel to watch movies," Gresh wrote.

"BTV will be a great medium for Brown students to express themselves and provide a great way for people to watch campus events," Volk said. "I was on the other side as a viewer in the past - I decided to get involved instead of complain about the station."

"Hopefully we can begin some productions this year," Joseph said. "But we'll definitely be operational in the fall."

For some freshmen who are not familiar with BTV, the concept of a University television program is appealing. "They should accept any student-made film and give an outlet for creative student work to be out there," said Francis Gonzales '11.

"It'd be fun for students to do, and I feel that, like the Brown Student Radio, it would create an interesting community for those interested in media production," Lucy Sedgwick '11 said.