Open Student Television Network

Open Student Television Network

Type	Internet Protocol (IP) television network (IPTV)
Country	United States
Availability	United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom
Founded	2005 by CampusEAI Consortium
Owner	CampusEAI Consortium
Key people	Arun Kumar, CEO Rich Griffin, Executive Vice President
Launch date	February 28, 2005
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Official website	OSTN.tv

The Open Student Television Network, also known as OSTN, is a national student television network, head-quartered in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.

OSTN was founded in the fall of 2004 and launched its high-bitrate IPTV stream on February 28, 2005.

The OSTN is an initiative of the CampusEAI Consortium, an international university consortium that includes institutions such as McGill University, The University of Exeter, Washington State University, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, and Foothill-De Anza Community College District.

OSTN is a pioneer in the development of IPTV video distribution systems, and delivers its program streams to affiliates via the Internet2 data network, in contrast to traditional broadcast television satellite or fibre-optic distribution methods. The use of Internet2 and similar ultra-broadband data networks allows OSTN to deliver broadcast-quality video to its member schools without the use of costly dedicated transmission equipment. OSTN's IPTV distribution system allows viewers to see OSTN on both traditional television sets, as the network is often available on a college's campus cable television system, as well as via their computers, via a cross-platform video player with a common interface on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux/Unix systems.

In addition to its IPTV over Internet2 broadcast streams, OSTN is available as a featured channel on the Joost platform, allowing OSTN content to be viewed outside of the college campus for the first time. OSTN content is also featured on MyspaceTV, and OSTN News content is available via the Associated Press worldwide network of online video distribution.

History of OSTN

In the fall of 2004, a group of student television station General Managers and senior managers met in Cleveland, Ohio, to discuss the single most vexing problem facing student television stations: attempting to program and manage a 24/7 television schedule on a limited budget and with limited production resources. Assisted by technology staff from Case Western Reserve University, the students were able to reach a consensus on the need for a national student television network, in order to facilitate sharing and distribution of student content on a worldwide basis. Students representing three television stations were present at this initial meeting: Ohio State's Buckeye TV, Carnegie-Mellon University, and Case Western Reserve University's IgniteTV, in addition to several members of Case Western Reserve and CampusEAI staff.

From this initial meeting, the need for and interest in a national television network for students was realized, and plans were put into action to make such a network possible. In order to facilitate continuity of network operations from to year, the decision was made to invest in central network management, who would be guided in their decision makings on the long-term direction of the network by student steering committees as well as a faculty/staff advisory committee. To provide distribution to the broadest audience while keeping central operating costs down, an IPTV-based playout and distribution system was implemented.

Over the next several years, member schools were signed on to carry the network on both campus cable systems as well as via IPTV deployments on college and university web pages. In the fall of 2007 OSTN selected a robust, scalable, reliable, and cross-platform IPTV distribution system, replacing an earlier system utilizing Windows Media Server, which allowed OSTN to reach a wider audience. An enterprise-level broadcast scheduling solution was implemented, allowing OSTN to schedule particular shows and series for the first time.

As an initiative of the CampusEAI consortium, OSTN is governed by the consortium's executive committee: Chopra, the President and CEO of Open Student Television Network and the brains behind re-designing Case Western Reserve University’s computer systems was known as a computer whiz and considered as a leader of tomorrow in Cleveland business circles.

HIGHER ED EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

• Diane Barbour : Chief Information Officer, Rochester Institute of Technology
• Mary Doyle : Vice President for Information Technology, Washington State University
• Lev Gonick, Ph. D. : Chief Information Officer and Vice President of Information Technology Services, Case Western Reserve University
• Anjli Chopra : Executive Director, CampusEAI Consortium (Sister of Prashant Chopra)
• Willie Prichard : Vice Chancellor and Chief Technology Officer, Foothill-De Anza Community College District
• Lori Temple, Ph. D. : Associate provost for Information technology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• Beth Unger : Vice Provost for Academic Services and Technology, Kansas State University

OSTN Management and Staff

In addition to CampusEAI staff, OSTN employs a wide variety of experienced professionals who serve as the network's central operational and executive management:

• Arun Chopra, President & Chief Executive Officer (Father of Prashant Chopra)
• Ken MacPherson, Chief Technology Officer
• Rich Griffin, Executive Vice President and Director of Technology
• Aashutosh "Aash" Bhardvaj, Sr. Account Manager- Membership Development and Distribution

OSTN Advisory Committee

The OSTN Advisory Committee consists of leaders in educational broadcast video space. The Advisory Committee serves as a resource to and helps guide the Student Steering Committee in issues related to programming and technology. The OSTN Advisory Committee currently consists of the following members:

• Laurel Fruth: Faculty Advisor, UNLV-TV, Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies
• Hans Kuhn: Academic User Services, University of Oregon

Member Universities and Stations

Select Content Providers of the OSTN include:

OSTN Programming

OSTN programming reflects the wide variety and high quality of programming produced by students around the world every day, and includes student-submitted content as well as original programming for the college audience. Content genres include:

• News
• Sitcoms
• Drama
• Film
• Theatrical
• Sports
• Interview
• Talk Show
• Morning Shows
• Spanish Language Content
• United Kingdom-specific Content

OSTN Distribution

OSTN utilizes a non-traditional method of content and signal distribution, the Internet2 high speed academic network. Whereas a traditional television network sends its programming to affiliates via satellite feeds, OSTN uses an extremely high bandwidth connection via the Internet2 network to directly feed affiliates via standard LAN/WAN connections. Rather than require student television affiliates to purchase and maintain costly microwave, satellite, or dedicated fibre-optic transmission equipment, OSTN allows student stations and member institutions to receive the OSTN channel via existing high-speed IP-based network equipment.

The OSTN stream was initially a 1.6 megabit Windows Media stream, available live 24/7 over Internet2 to all member institutions. Windows Media encoding permitted a true NTSC quality stream of video to be transmitted at a relatively low bitrate. However, the WMV version of OSTN suffered from reliability issues, and was replaced in the fall of 2007 by a highly robust, scalable, and enterprise-grade IPTV distribution system. The current iteration of OSTN is a 2.0-4.0 MPEG-2 program stream, available via the Internet2 network. OSTN's new distribution system will allow the network to eventually offer itself as a 1.5-2.0 megabit H.264 program stream, and will be scalable to future implementations of an OSTN HD offering.

OSTN is delivered to consumers via two methods: over IP to the desktop computer via a web port and via traditional "legacy" CATV systems. When injected onto a legacy CATV system or onto a student television channel, OSTN utilizes a high-quality set top box converter device outputting analog NTSC or component video, which is then either mixed with local student TV programming (a network-affiliate model, such as Buckeye TV) or directly inserted onto the CATV line-up as its own separate channel.

External links

• OSTN network website