As the result of a survey conducted late September by the Residence Hall Association (RHA) in conjunction with IT Services and Housing, Dining and Guest Services (HDGS), Miami University has added USA and TBS to the current line-up of TV channels available to students on camps.
According to the November RHA newsletter, A&E, Travel Channel, TNT, ESPN Alternate, TLC and TV Land will be added after winter break.
According to Cathy McVey, director of customer relations and communications, the survey was conducted by Residence Hall Association members at one of the first meetings of the academic year.
"(RHA members) voted as representatives of their corridor ... We had them vote for channels they'd like to be added or that could go away," McVey said.
In the survey, students could choose between 18 channels at no additional charge. These channels were part of the negotiated contract that Miami had not yet put into the system, McVey said.
According to sophomore Dan Patrick, Hahne Hall, where he lives, voted in an online survey.
"The Residence Director e-mailed us and asked us if we were happy with the channels and asked what channels we wanted to add," he said.
After all the survey results were tabulated, no channels were immediately taken away and USA and TBS were added, McVey said.
The November RHA newsletter also said that after winter break, Sci-Fi, Cartoon Network, MTV2 and Lifetime will be removed from Miami's basic cable service because of lack of student interest.
In fall 2008, Miami began to offer digital cable TV options as well as High Definition (HD) signals.
A survey conducted at the end of the 2008 spring semester indicated 30 percent of Miami students were interested in HD signals and digital cable boxes.
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However, only 6 percent of the Miami population chose to rent a box for the fall semester, said Steve Thole, director of business systems and technology for HDGS.
Thole said this is because the cable boxes were not available the day of move-in.
Sophomore Jen Thomas did not purchase a premium cable package or HD signals.
"It's a lot of money to pay for the one channel that you want," Thomas said.
However, Thole said that prices have decreased since students signed up for cable boxes and HD signals.
Students who signed up for the service will receive refunds based on what they were initially charged by the contract with DISH network, according to Thole.
Fortunately, the low participation is not expected to affect Miami financially, McVey said.
According to McVey, HDGS's budget is separate from the university's budget.
"Any monetary loss would not impact the university," she said. "It would be internal to that auxiliary (account) ... By definition, it can't negatively impact the rest of the university."
Thomas also expressed frustration at the number of channels offered through the basic cable package.
"We had more channels last year than we have this year," Thomas said.
Approximately 60 channels were offered in 2007-08, while 52 channels are currently available, according to Thole.
McVey said the changes in TV channels and the new digital packages were the results of Miami working with a new vendor.
"The big system change happened during the summer," McVey said. "IT Services and HDGS worked to put together a new contract ... that contains HD signals and premium packages."
In the RHA survey, 20 residence halls requested USA and 13 halls voted for TBS. All 38 residence halls were surveyed, but Hepburn, Symmes and Thomson halls did not respond.
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