CABLE TV OFFERINGS, ODU CHANNELS AMONG FARE ON NEW NETWORK

Television news, sports, drama and educational programming, with a handful of ODU channels thrown in, will be available at selected campus locations this week via MONARCHvision, the university's new campus video network.

Wiring for the system was recently completed for all residence halls, including the University Village Apartments, as well as Webb Center and Hughes and Koch halls. All new academic buildings will be outfitted with the fiber-optic cable.

The system offers students an affordable cable TV package wrapped into their student housing fees. They now have access to more than 50 channels, including CNN, ESPN, MSNBC, Univision, the Discovery and History channels and MTV. Sorry, but no Showtime or HBO.

Since the connections are live, users simply plug in their TV and gain access to the cable channels.

"Up to this point, students contracted with local cable companies and actually paid the base rate," said Rick Lovelace, manager, Computing and Communications Services. "Between the savings and the flexibility, we decided to do it ourselves and several people came up with the content."

Departments and offices in buildings not currently wired that are interested in getting MONARCHvision can contact OCCS at 683-3192 or occshelp@odu.edu. The price will depend on the building location and the work involved.

Seven TVs were installed recently in the Webb Center. Those, along with existing sets in the lobby areas and game room, will also have access to the cable channels, including to the four ODU-produced channels debuting this fall:

ODUi (channel 5), an information channel produced by Academic Technology Services that runs videos about the university and its faculty;

ODU Live (channel 37), produced by the Office of Student Services, which displays university events and activities in a bulletin board format. Employees may submit activities for display on the OD Live channel at axistv@odu.edu.

Campus Movie Channel (channel 20), operated by the Office of Auxiliary Services, which shows new releases of popular titles. For a schedule of upcoming movies, go to the ODU home page, click on Current Students and scroll down to the Campus Life heading, which includes a link to MONARCHvision.

WODU Radio (channel 51), which features the student-run station's programming with a graphic displayed on screen. It is hoped that an in-studio camera will be installed at WODU in the future.