As it prepares to rework the campus television network this summer, Ohio University has gathered student opinions about changing channels.
The university conducted an Internet survey on SurveyMonkey.com to gauge students' opinions on which channels are important to them and which they could live without.
Respondents were asked to select the channel they would like to see added to the CATVision lineup. ESPNU received almost 27 percent of the votes. Other high-ranked channels include Oxygen, which provides women's programming, LOGO, which provides lesbian gay bisexual and transgender programming, G4 TV, a video game channel and MTV2.
Respondents were also asked which channel they would be most willing to drop to make room for a new channel. The top choice, C-SPAN2, garnered about 15 percent of the votes. C-SPAN2 covers the U.S. Senate, but C-SPAN1 covers the U.S. House of Representatives.
The cable network, CATVision, is available in all residence halls and in some other buildings on campus. CATVision includes 57 program channels, a movie channel, a community channel, and 17 channels for educational access in its lineup, according to its Web site.
The university is likely to remove from its lineup network stations (CBS, ABC and NBC) based in West Virginia, said Gordon Pettey, director of operations for Facilities Management. Most of that programming is duplicated on the Columbus-based network stations carried by the university, with the notable exception of local news.
Ohio University is negotiating with Time Warner, and the university expects to convert the programming over the summer, Pettey said.
Of the almost 7,600 students living on campus, only 389 responded to the survey. The survey was promoted on channels 18 and 19 as well as on the CATVision Web site.
More than half of the respondents live on South Green, and more than 75 percent are first- or second-year students.
I honestly don't watch TV at all
said Jake Conklin, an East Green resident, adding that he only makes a point to watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
If I'm up at 10 and don't have class I'll watch (The Montel Williams Show) or some other daytime TV said Sarah Burke, a West Green resident.
The survey also weighed interest in the possibility of XM Radio. About 58 percent of the survey respondents said that they would install a splitter in their rooms and connect their cable to an FM tuner if free XM radio were available.
Survey respondents were also asked to select radio stations that they would add to the XM radio lineup. The most popular stations include The 80s, The 90s, and Top 20, as well as Flight 26, which plays hits of the 90s and now, XM HitList, which plays hits of today, and Top Tracks, which plays classic rock.
Ohio University is negotiating with XM Radio, and it could be added at any time, Pettey said.
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Natalie DeBruin
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Survey results could influence TV viewing in dorms
