News for and about the Internet2 community

["Lauren B. Kallens" <>]

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Joins The OPEN Student Television
Network

MIT to Provide IP Television to Students, Staff and Faculty

CAMBRIDGE, MA - July 26, 2005 - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology
announced that it has joined the OPEN Student Television Network (OSTN). By
joining OSTN, students, staff and faculty at MIT will be able to securely
access student television shows developed by peer institutions such as
University of Southern California, Syracuse University, Ohio State
University, Indiana University, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and
broadcast television programming from content providers such as NBC
Universal, FOX and Starz! Encore on their laptops and PCs.

The Open Student Television Network (OSTN) is a hosted IP Television service
that offers student-produced broadcast programming over Abilene -
Internet2's nationwide high-speed backbone network which provides end-users
speeds 100-1000 times faster than the average household broadband connection
to laptops and desktop PCs.  The network reaches over three million users,
206 research and educational institutions, and 34 state education networks.

OSTN has also negotiated bulk discounts from major television content
providers such as NBC Universal, FOX, and Starz Encore Group for secure
delivery of their programming over campuses' commercial Internet connections
to the desktop using conditional access and digital rights management and
Institutions participating in OSTN opt-in and pay a la carte for the
programming on the OSTN IP Television service. 

The Open Student Television Network Channel is a national initiative of
student television stations working together to build a digital channel of
student television shows. On the OSTN Channel, students are not only
creating content but they are also making the important programming
decisions that appeal to their peer viewing audience. The OSTN Channel
provides opportunities for students through resources, community, exposure
and experience. The OSTN Channel gives voice to students by connecting
schools' TV stations through video content sharing and digital delivery of
student-produced video content to the PC and TV. 

"The CampusEAI Consortium's OPEN Student Television Network represents an
exciting and unique opportunity for MIT to provide original programming over
advanced networks to its community," Said Vijay Kumar, Assistant Provost and
Director of Academic Computing, Information Services & Technology,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"MIT Cable's participation in the OPEN Student Television Network will
furnish MIT students an exceptional opportunity to have their work seen at
over 70 universities.  OSTN creates possibilities for student collaboration
on a scale unimaginable only several years ago," said Randy Winchester, Team
Leader for MIT Cable Television at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.  "I am anticipating that OSTN will encourage many new students
to get involved with video production, and may very well kindle a
renaissance in student video production."

"One of Internet2's primary missions is to provide a platform for
collaboration and innovation among the research and education community",
said Jill Arnold, director of member and partner relations for Internet2.
"The OPEN Student Television Network is an example of a leading initiative
that enables this kind of idea sharing and content distribution across
higher education - providing students and faculty greater access to
multimedia learning materials and information."

"We are pleased to see Massachusetts Institute of Technology joining the
OPEN Student Television Network," said Anjli Jain, Executive Director of the
CampusEAI Consortium. "We look forward to further supporting this important
initiative."

"Everyone here is really excited to have MIT join OSTN and look forward to
collaborating on many levels with such a respectable university, especially
in the HD area." says Shane Walker, Vice President of OSTN Studios. "The
bulk discount agreements, which OSTN has negotiated with the television
content providers, will help MIT to decrease the costs of providing IP
television to the student, staff and faculty community."

For more information on the Open Student Television Network send an e-mail
to 
.
 To apply for membership in the Open Student
Television Network, visit http://www.ostn.tv/join.shtm.




About MIT
The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science,
technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation
and the world in the 21st century.

About CampusEAI Consortium
Led by over 100 primary, secondary, and post-secondary education
institutions in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States,
CampusEAI Consortium is a Cleveland-based, non-profit organization dedicated
to facilitating the development and exchange of community-source software
and digital content. For more information, visit www.campuseai.org.

About Internet2
Internet2 is a consortium being led by 206 universities working in
partnership with industry and government to develop and deploy advanced
network applications and technologies, accelerating the creation of
tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 is recreating the partnership among academia,
industry and government that fostered today's Internet in its infancy.

About Open Student Television network
Launched by Internet2 and the CampusEAI Consortium, the OPEN Student
Television Network (OSTN) is a hosted IP Television service that offers
traditional broadcast television programming and university produced
programming securely over Internet2 to laptops and desktop PCs.

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INFORMATION:
Randy Winchester 
Team Leader, MIT Cable Television
Massachusetts Institutes of Technology
(617) 253-7431; 


Rishu Sharma 
Director of Communications
The CampusEAI Consortium
 (216)791-6469; 


Rich Griffin
Vice President of Technology
OPEN student Television Network
 (216)470-6183;