Student television in the United Kingdom
Student television in Great Britain is a growing field, with an increasing number of major universities and some colleges playing host to a student-run TV station. Some British stations are affiliated with the National Student Television Association (NaSTA). The size, scope, budget and organisational makeup of stations is extremely varied, ranging from online-only broadcasters with a handful of members to stations with their own cable broadcast networks and dedicated studios. there are approximately 30 stations in Great Britain, but many students are now producing material and taking advantage of sites such as YouTube to distribute it.
Student television encapsulates a variety of different styles techniques and distribution methods, from large stations funded by their universities and broadcasting into university accommodation, to a single student uploading vlogs to the web. This often reflects the British style of programming, high idea and low budget often relying on ingenuity and humour[citation needed].
History
Student television in Great Britain actually predates the founding of some national broadcasters. Glasgow University Student Television (GUST) was founded in 1964 [1] and was the first in Great Britain and Scotland. YSTV, of the University of York, followed in 1967 and was the first in England[2], Wales would not get its first until 2005, with GlamTV of the University of Glamorgan[citation needed].
During the 1980s many stations collapsed, for one reason or another unable to maintain production, the reason for this varied but the key underlining reason was as with all student groups they depend on the voluntary contribution of students as this is an unstable factor year to year, the skill required to run such a complex operation were lost as people graduated. GUST was a notable exception to this and maintained the NaSTA group during this decline. YSTV also kept going strong, and in 1988 broke the World Record for the longest continuous broadcast under a single director (Keith Hide-Smith)[3]. However with easy to use digital technology and the growth of media courses many of universities have seen a return of station some are relaunches of old stations such as at the University of Leicester whereas others are completely new as with the University of Plymouth.
Prior to the advent of digital video technology, particularly computer editing software, a student television station was costly to run and the programmes were difficult to edit. When digital technology became available and reliatively cheap it became possible for students to take advantage of it and many new stations were set up at the end of the nineties and early part of this decade. The number of stations continues to grow each year.
Comparison to student TV in the United States
Unlike US colleges, no UK station broadcasts over the airwaves, though several stations take advantage of their university's computer networks to stream content. Most broadcast on a network of screens around campus similar, the UK does not have any national student TV networks like MTVU.
Current style and production techniques
Techniques vary from station to station, some emulate professional television stations, with equipped studios control booths and editing suits, some have no fixed basis relying on members own camcorders and computers for production. Most stations rely heavily on magazine style shows often broadcast live once a week then repeated. These will include individual segments, often reviews and news programmes with few producing comedy or drama. The segments are often made available on demand online after broadcast, although few stations sell their content (most likely for copyright and licensing reasons). A notable exception to this is LUST, which does retail their programmes via their website. Student television was quick to utilise digital video which is now increasingly used in the mainstream such as in the British documentary Taking Liberties. Warwick's station uses the Canon XL1 the same camera that was used on hit British film 28 days later.
Cultural impact
Student produced television is becoming increasingly recognised in Great Britain, the National Union of Students, Royal Television Society and The Guardian all have awards for student television stations and student produced content. The student animation Badgered was nominated for the academy award in 2006.
National Student Television Association
The National Student Television Association (NaSTA), is formed from affiliated stations from throughout Great Britain. The number of affiliated stations varies from year to year, but historically it consists of approximately fifteen active stations [4]. NaSTA's stated aim is "To foster communication and collaboration between its member stations, offer support and advice to new stations, and raise the profile of student TV in the UK." It acts as both a hub for the British student TV community, and as an interface between student TV and the wider broadcast industry.
NaSTA also runs an annual awards ceremony, in which eligible stations submit examples of their programming for appraisal by judges drawn from the wider broadcast industry.
Every year one of the affiliated stations volunteers to host the awards and takes over the role of administering NaSTA - this includes the managing of finances, communications and promotion for the entire organisation. Since the 2006 conference NaSTA has had a non binding constitution detailing the responsibilities of the host stations and scope of the organisation. NaSTA customarily maintains a website containing forums, information and resources for its member stations.
References
- ^ The Independent - Analysis: University TV Stations
- ^ A scan of the November 22 1967 Northern Echo announcing the launch of York Student Television
- ^ Guinness Book of World Records, 1990, page 233, by Norris McWhirter
- ^ Web Archive - NaSTA member stations
