British student television
Encyclopedia
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
s around the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
producing and publishing video content independently, operating in a similar fashion to a small television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
. Student television stations exist all around the United Kingdom.
Content is not generally output across traditional media, as a broadcast licence may be prohibitively expensive to small non-profit organisations. Most student television stations use the Internet as a primary method of distributing content; either on a dedicated website, via their university's pages or on video sharing sites such as YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. Student television encapsulates a variety of different programming styles and techniques: from large stations funded by their universities who broadcast into student accommodation and buildings, to a single student uploading occasional shows to the web.
Some student stations are affiliated with The National Student Television Association (abbreviated NaSTA), which has thirty member stations. The association holds an awards ceremony once a year to reward the best work submitted by the member stations across a number of categories.
History
Some student television stations in the United Kingdom pre-date the founding of national broadcasters like Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
(1982) and Five (1997). Glasgow University Student Television
Glasgow University Student Television
Glasgow University Student Television or GUST, is the student television station of the University of Glasgow. Founded around 1964, it is one of the oldest student TV station in the world with the first being ICTV in 1954 . The station is run entirely by students and produces programs covering...
was the first student television station to be founded in the United Kingdom, in 1964. York Student Television
York Student Television
York Student Television is England’s oldest student television station. Founded in 1967, the station is based at the University of York, with its studio in James College. YSTV once held the world record for longest continuous television broadcast under a single director, and is a member of the...
followed in 1967, and was the first station to be started in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Prior to the advent of digital video technology, particularly editing software, a student television station was costly to run and the programmes were difficult to edit. As digital technology became more available and its cost reduced, it became possible for student societies to move to digital video production.
In 2010, SUSUtv (at the University of Southampton
University of Southampton
The University of Southampton is a British public university located in the city of Southampton, England, a member of the Russell Group. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902, the Institution developed...
) became the first student television station in the United Kingdom to broadcast a live show in high-definition
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
, covering their student union
Student union
Student union may refer to:* Students' union, or student government in the U.S., a student organization at many colleges and universities dedicated to student governance...
election results. In 2011 YSTV became the first student television station to broadcast live in 3D.
Cultural impact
Student produced television is becoming increasingly recognised in the United Kingdom, with the National Union of Students having awards for both "Best Media Student" and "Student Broadcaster of the Year", as well as the Royal Television SocietyRoyal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
's awards for student television stations and student produced content. The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
hosts its Student Media Awards annually, offering a "Broadcast Journalist of the year" award.
In 2006, An animation called Badgered
Badgered
Badgered is a 2005 animated short film, nominated on January 31, 2006 for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film. The film was written, animated and directed by Sharon Colman at the National Film and Television School and is voiced by Rupert Degas....
by Sharon Colman who was a student at the National Film and Television School
National Film and Television School
The National Film and Television School was established in 1971 and is based at Beaconsfield Studios in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, and it is located close to Pinewood Studios.-History:...
was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
In 2011 the short film "The Confession" by Tanel Toom, who was a student at the National Film and television School, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Film.
LSUTV (Loughborough Students' Union
Loughborough Students' Union
Loughborough Students' Union is the students' union serving members from Loughborough University, Loughborough College and the RNIB College Loughborough....
TV) presenter Ore Oduba, who won the NaSTA best male award in 2008, went on to be hired by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in July 2008 to present the children's TV show Newsround
Newsround
Newsround is a BBC children's news programme, which has run continuously since 4 April 1972, and was one of the world's first television news magazines aimed specifically at children...
.
LSUTV (Loughborough Students' Union
Loughborough Students' Union
Loughborough Students' Union is the students' union serving members from Loughborough University, Loughborough College and the RNIB College Loughborough....
TV) presenter Sam Darcy, who won the NaSTA best male award in 2010, is now a presenter and producer on BBC Radio Kent.
The National Student Television Association
The National Student Television Association (NaSTA) is formed of thirty affiliated stations from all over the United Kingdom. It runs an annual awards ceremony in which eligible stations submit examples of their programming for appraisal by judges drawn from the wider broadcast industry.The earliest record of a NaSTA conference dates from the 1995 conference, with only eight member stations in attendance. Each year one of the affiliated stations volunteers to be the host station of NaSTA, hosting the awards ceremony and administrating the organisation - this includes the managing of finances, communications and promotion for the entire organisation.
In October 2008 NaSTA launched Freshers TV, a collaboration of over 20 student stations across the United Kingdom providing a television channel to cover freshers' week at universities across the country. This was made available on Freewire
Freewire
Freewire is an internet based television service originally specifically targeted at students through University portals and networks. Freewire Television now reaches around 40,000 students at a variety of locations in the country, and in the process became the largest IPTV service ahead of BT...
, SUBtv
SUBtv (student television)
Subtv is an interactive television channel for students' unions and universities in the United Kingdom. It is broadcast in around 96 British universities on plasma screens...
and online via the Freshers TV website with the assistance of the JANET
JANET
JANET is a private British government-funded computer network dedicated to education and research. All further- and higher-education organisations in the UK are connected to JANET, as are all the Research Councils; the majority of these sites are connected via 20 metropolitan area networks JANET...
network.. The first live FresherTV show was broadcast in October 2010 by hosts, LSUTV, and another in October 2011 by new hosts SUSUtv.