Students will begin testing television via the Internet on Monday in four residence halls as part of the proposal to install cable in dorm rooms.

Residents of Bobb Hall, McCulloch Hall, Communications Residential College and International Studies Residential College will receive service this quarter, William Banis, vice president for student affairs, wrote in an e-mail.

Pending success in these dorms, access will be extended to Ayers College of Commerce and Industry and 1835 Hinman by April 22.

The dorms were selected for trials because they vary in size and location, encompass a diverse area and have Residential Consultants available to deal with potential problems, said Sheila Driscoll, director of business and finance for the Office of Student Affairs.

“(The purpose) is to make sure it works on a manageable number of desktop computers in various residence halls and resolve problems before rolling out the project to every resident,” Driscoll wrote in an e-mail.

Banis said students initially will receive four channels: ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. Tom Board, director of Technological Support Services, said negotiations with potential providers of cable channels will happen during the summer.

Information Technology officials will monitor the test to see whether the Internet television access will affect the speed of Northwestern’s network, Board said.

Some of the ResCons who previewed the new system praised its efficiency, although they acknowledged some flaws.

“I’d say (it was) about half the quality of a regular cable broadcast,” said Josh Moxley, a Speech senior. “It’s certainly a great improvement. It’s full motion, it’s smooth. The quality, although not perfect, is just fine.”

The television Web site, which is hosted by ClearBand, contains an interactive window that also displays a schedule of TV programs. Click on a program and it takes “about five seconds and you’re watching,” Moxley said.

ResCon Todd vanGoethem said that while the program would improve during campuswide installation, students should recognize that it is now in an early testing stage.

“Right now they’re not using the final signal, (however) it looks much better than anything I can get over antenna,” said vanGoethem, a Weinberg sophomore.

Administrators will send out a survey in May to obtain feedback from participants and gauge the success of the project, Driscoll wrote.

Board said he expects the trial run to yield promising results.

“We feel confident that it’s going to work fine,” he said.