By Emily GlazerThe Daily Northwestern
To all students who watch NUTV: Your eyes do not deceive you.
Northwestern University Information Technology and Northwestern’s Division of Student Affairs added 12 channels to NUTV and switched from Comcast to DIRECTV on March 22 in response to students’ concerns, said Wendy Woodward, NUIT’s director of technology support services.
There will be no additional cost for the improvements, said Sheila Driscoll, director of business and financial student affairs.
“We wanted to provide a better product with more selection – but at the same cost – which is why we changed from Comcast to DIRECTV,” she said.
The new channels Driscoll listed were ABC Family, UPN, AMC, Food Network, Spike TV, PBS, Nickelodeon, A&E, Lifetime, TLC, Animal Planet and BET.
The new channel lineup was chosen from a housing survey sent during the summer to all students who have housing contracts for the upcoming fall, Driscoll said.
NUTV now has 36 channels available, up from 24.
The channels include four basic channels that anyone on campus can access, and 32 channels in the expanded service option for students living in residential halls, Driscoll said.
The new channels mean that NUTV meets more than 90 percent of residents’ programming requests, up from 66 percent, said Garth Miller, director of housing and food services.
NUIT and Student Affairs chose DIRECTV because it has a digital signal that improves the picture quality, Woodward said.
“Bottom line is that this was the best fit for the institution,” she said.
Driscoll said she thinks the difference is very noticeable.
“The signal is much better and the resolution is much better with a larger picture than it ever was before,” she said.
Miller said the picture quality is especially noticeable at maximum-screen size.
“Picture quality has taken a quantum leap with the switch to a digital signal,” he said.
Miller said both Student Affairs and NUIT will continue looking for additional opportunities “to enhance both the living and learning experience for our residents through improved technology.”
Weinberg freshman Max Shaul said he noticed the difference right away.
“I think it’s cool that we have BET now,” said Shaul, who said he watches NUTV for about three hours a week.
Gloria Kim, a McCormick freshman, said she watched NUTV after someone told her about the improvements.
Although she said she didn’t notice the picture quality, she said she was really happy that one of her favorite channels was added to the line-up.
“I just love the Food Network,” she said. “(The changes) made my day.”
Reach Emily Glazer at [email protected].
