The U Network
Enters
College Media Market
by Ken
Freed.
.
Upstart
startup offers student content with low overhead and
lofty vision.
Aiming at the $200
billion 18-24 age demographic, a new television network
will launch in September 2004 to serve colleges and
surrounding communities the U.S., Canada and UK.
The U Network (TUN) initially will distribute without
cost three to five hours of programming per week obtained
from youthful producers in North America, Europe and
elsewhere. Shows will cover the gamut from drama, comedy,
music, art, and politics. TUN also will offer the first
national collegiate news show with national and local
segments.
The network already has carriage commitment from more
than 100 campuses representing more than 11 million
viewers. "Additional contracts are being signed daily,"
said TUN founder and CEO, Shane Walker.
Based at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, TUN
already has a Washington D.C. Bureau in Leesburg,
Virginia, and is opening production studios in Orlando,
Florida, and the fledgling network is opening a European
office in London.
"Because we are giving new talent a chance to find an
audience that they could never reach through film
festivals," Walker said, "we see ourselves becoming the
minor league to the entertainment industry. We'll be the
farm club supplying talent to the major league networks
and studios."
The startup network is being funded by private
investors putting up $5 million in the first round,
Walker said, declining to name his backers. This money
supports a staff of 16 at three locations along with all
operations through September launch and beyond.
Each program costs about $150,000 to produce he said,
a mere fraction of what the millions that major networks
spend per episode. Each program is being underwritten by
a Fortune 500 corporation or another sponsor. Among those
Walker was willing to identify was the U.S. Navy,
underwriting a reality show set in the Naval Academy at
Annapolis.
"We're having no trouble getting meetings with
executives," he said," because we're reaching the exact
demographic they are targeting, college age youth who are
still figuring out what they brand loyalties are going to
be."
Walker said that TUN is receiving work by students and
other producers from all over the world. "We're getting
short films, feature films, digital animation,
documentaries, experimental music videos, dance and
theater pieces. You name it, and we're seeing it."
TUN does not pay the independent producers for the
right to transmit their work, said TUN president Lynn
White. Having their work seen by millions is payment
enough, and the exposure benefits the student, the
university and the campus department, she said.
The producers retain copyright, said Walker, but for
TUN's own protection, each producer must sign a licensing
contract that gives the network permission to "clean up"
the production for language, nudity, violence, or other
factors.
"The quality of the work coming in to us is simply
incredible," said Cass Burt coordinating director of The
U Network. "Compared to what was available to students
ten years ago, like low-quality home video cameras and
either VHS or U-Matic editing systems, the student
producers on campus today have access to high-resolution
digital camcorders, especially mini-DV, and they are
doing nonlinear digital editing with Adobe Premier or
Apple's Final Cut Pro. This means that almost anyone
today can produce broadcast quality video on a very
limited budget. That change makes what we're doing
possible."
TUN itself is running a low-budget operation. Burt
described the equipment at the Ball State headquarters
that he uses to put the programming together.
The TUN production system is built around two
Macintosh G5 computers, the first with dual 1.8 GHz
processors and the second with dual 2.0 GHz processors,
each with GB RAM, each containing both a 180 GB and 250
GB hard drive, plus a DVD-R burner. These Mac computers
carry Final Cut Pro HD software along with Adobe
AfterEffects 6.0 and PhotoShop. Components for the TUN
website (www.theunetwork.com)
are created with Macromedia Dreamweaver and Flash.
In addition, said Burt, TUN has an 800 MHz iMac G4
with 512 RAM and a 60 GB hard drive, plus an Apple
PowerBook with a 133 GHz process and 512 MB RAM. Beyond
this is a satellite Toshiba P25 laptop with a Pentium IV
chip. All content is backed up on a LaCie 1 Terabyte
storage unit. For editing tape, TUN has two JVC mini-DV
decks.
Although this in-house equipment is not yet networked
together, TUN is hooked into Ball State's ethernet
connection to webhost Spinweb.com,
which supports online reception of student producer
submissions. Other submissions arrive in DVD or mini-DV
formats, Burt said.
For creating original content in house, TUN has two
Canon X11-s cameras, two Canon GL-2 cameras, both with
standard lenses. The X11-s can mount on the arm of a
SkyCrane Jr. jib. The GL-2 can mount on a Varizoom
steadycam body harness.
Audio is handled with several Sure SM-58 microphones,
a couple Sure lapel mics, an Azden shotgun mic on a boom,
and a Sure FP42 portable mixer. An Arri SoftbankIV light
kit illumines their small soundstage.
Burt is still selecting the equipment for the new
Orlando studios.
For distributing TUN's content to college television
operation, Walker said TUN be using the Internet for
operators with high-speed connections. All others will
receive the TUN programming on DVD discs. "We looked at
satellite distribution," he said," and we've talked with
Comcast about carriage, but we've determined that not
enough college broadcasters have satellite reception
capabilities, so far."
Walker said he's not worried success. "Were
concentrating on the top four consumer products for the
college age demographic &endash; fast food, soft drinks,
clothing, and automobiles. Every proposal I've made to an
investor so far has resulted in an offer. I think we have
a good reason to be optimistic about TUN. 
Industry Responses
to TUN
TUN's plan to distribute
college network programming online and on disk somewhat
surprise Eloise Greene, manager of operations for Ithica
College Television in Ithaca, NY. College networks in the
past, like the University Network from the now defunct
national Association of College Broadcasters, "were
successful only because they distributed programming by
satellite, which is expensive. Perhaps improvements in
technology make it viable to bypass satellite carriage
now."
Green disagreed with the idea that few colleges have
satellite reception. "In fact, almost every college has a
satellite link to receive and send telecourses, so I have
to ask why the college TV systems, which mostly are
campus cable networks, can't get access to those dishes.
Perhaps the problem is more political than
technical."
Green also wondered at the TUN business model.
"College TV systems are usually bound by the same ban on
commercial advertising that governs community access
cable systems. So if The U Network plans to support
itself with advertising, they may run into obstacles. Of
course, if they only run underwriter spots, like on PBS,
that may be okay."
The problem is that student viewers are fickle, she
said, and it's hard to predict their tastes. TUN may have
chance because the content is coming from producers the
same age as those who are supposed to watch the
network.
The entry of a new player into the college market is
welcomed by Nick DeNinno,
vice president and general manager of the
youth-oriented National Lampoon Network, based in New
York City. National Lampoon in 2002 bought the Burly Bear
college network in 2002 from a consortium of investors
that had purchased the network from Saturday Night Live
producer Lorne Michaels, who backed it for more than five
years.
"The schools desperately need content right now," said
DiNinno, who supplies 12 hours of programming a week at
no cost to more than 600 college campuses nationwide.
"The more content there is on these networks, the more
students in the 18-24 demographic will watch them, and
that can only benefit us. So I welcome TUN into the
marketplace."
Asked if his own venture was showing a profit yet,
DiNinno said, "The National Lampoon Network is only one
of several ventures with a larger company. We already
have great brand awareness among college students."
According to Dan Knight, a spokesperson for the trade
group, College Broadcasters Inc. and the advisor for
KVR-TV in The University of Texas at Austin, the
financial lure of college-age viewers is hard to
resist.
Beyond TUN and National Lampoon, Knight said, others
players include MTV-U, the music channel targeting
students, and the Zilo service, which offers original
sketch comedy, reality TV, live event sports, and
celebrity features, or the Fuse network in Canada,
formerly MuchMusic. "Despite the high disposable income
of those in this attractive demographic, none of these
college network ventures are really making any money
yet." .
