Next-Generation Cable TV Services: Issues for Higher Education

Is traditional cable television service needed at universities? Are legitimate companies such as Netflix and Hulu eliminating the need for campuses to provide the service? Are technologies such as BitTorrent, which are providing transport for illegal distribution of copyrighted content, satisfying the demand for users? Tufts is staring at an aging cable plant combined with the growth of converged IP services mixed with a new generation of users that is no longer watching television on a television. What is the right direction at Tufts? This session will cover our approach at Tufts to such a problem and our recommendations.

OBJECTIVES: Be able to determine from our study the network demands on various video-streaming solutions and whether to work with a vendor with a turnkey solution or handle some infrastructure internally * Discover what we learned from our stakeholders (including the students), including weights of different variables * Learn what has changed, how the culture of cable television services at home is affecting trends and expectations at the dorm, and how this impacts the cable TV service that most colleges and universities provide