Discussions of canceling cable television subscriptions for the upcoming academic year have begun at Bradley. However, administration said a decision has not yet been made on the matter.
This discussion stemmed from student answers to a survey sent last October by Chief Information Officer Zach Gorman. The survey asked three questions about wireless issues, cable TV and funds reallocation.
“What we’re finding is the vast majority of the student population isn’t watching what we consider to be called ‘traditional cable television,’” Gorman said. “75 percent of the student population came back [in the survey] and said, ‘No, we don’t watch it at all.’ And we saw about half of the remaining population say that ‘I do, but if it ever were to go away, I don’t really care.’”
Last semester’s survey was part of a regular review of Bradley’s contracts and campus services.
“This whole needs process, this evaluation, is not anything new,” University Spokeswoman Renee Charles said. “Annually, [we] go through a needs assessment. So every year, we … see where we’re spending our money and determine whether we need to keep it there.”
Bradley currently spends around $250,000 each year on cable television subscriptions. If cable services were eliminated, that money would be reallocated elsewhere.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean that if we stopped the service, that there’s $250,000 to go spend on whatever we want,” Charles said. “You have to look at the budget and decide, ‘OK we’re not spending this $250,000 on this – where else do we need it?’ It could be split up and go to all kinds of different places.”
Some options for the funds include cable over the internet and standard streaming sites, such as Hulu and Netflix, Gorman said. Bradley may also choose to keep cable for the following school year.
“I’ll tell you this much: if we were to remove [cable services], there’s always actually potential expenses on if we were to transition to something else,” Gorman said. “So even though we’re expending a certain amount of money now, if we were to go to a different provider, there might be a front cost that go along with that.”
BUTV airs on channel 17 of campus cable every Wednesday at 6 p.m. Channel 17 also features student projects from other classes, such as interviews, short films and music videos.
“If there was any kind of replacement for cable TV, we would want to be a part of it,” Dave Lennie, executive director of BUTV and communication department faculty member, said. “If there wasn’t, we would put our efforts into our online presence. We’re already kind of doing what would be the replacement process.”
According to Charles, the evaluation is still taking place and the decision should be announced in the coming months.
“This is purely a discussion and data-gathering at this time,” Charles said. “When decisions are made, then the campus will be addressed.”
