Open Student Television Network - History of OSTN

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 a 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 reached 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 an enterprise-level broadcast scheduling solution was implemented, allowing OSTN to schedule particular shows and series for the first time.