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Big Ten Network launches university plan
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by Pedro Oliveira Jr.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Badgers will now be able to watch the Big Ten Network on any computer connected to the institution's network, the University of Wisconsin Division of Information Technology announced Thursday.
The service will be provided through DoIT's Digital Academic Television Network, which provides several free television channels as well as contributions from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
"It extends access to the BTN from just the residence halls and the unions to any machine plugged into the campus Ethernet network," Brian Rust, a spokesperson for DoIT, said.
The channel, however, will not be available to users connecting wirelessly, and those interested in accessing DATN must be inside a university building connected through a wired network.
"The access wireless is an issue because they feel it would enable someone who is not in the campus network to access it," Rust said. "You can access all but the Big Ten Network wirelessly."
Rust said DoIT would continue to negotiate with BTN representatives in efforts to grant students wireless access to BTN.
Students can use the Virtual Private Network, a DoIT service that enables students and faculty with a valid NetID to access certain university resources while off campus, to connect to UW's network and watch DATN, but BTN would be blocked for off-campus users.
BTN, CNN, mtvU and NTV American will be broadcast using a new QuickTime H.264 hardware encoder, DoIT said. Viewers should notice a considerable increase in image quality and performance compared to last year's service, which used a 5-year-old encoder.
UW sophomore A.J. Van Handel said he is disappointed most popular providers like Charter don't carry the BTN, but is glad he will at least be able to watch the away games at the unions.
"About 20 of our 30-some away games will be on the BTN, and the only way I can watch them will be by going to the union," Van Handel said.
UW sophomore Dan Dwyer said the idea of being able to watch certain television programs using a computer is interesting, but it does not reach the whole student population.
"Usually when you watch a game you want to be with people, not at a library or other university building," Dwyer said.
Recommended hardware for Macintosh users is at least a PowerPC G4 or newer with 256 megabytes RAM. For Windows users, the requirements are a Pentium 4 or newer with 256 megabytes RAM. Users may also use Linux, though no technical support is offered.
No BTN representatives were available for comment as of press time.
Anonymous (September 14, 2007 @ 9:28am):
a link would be cool....
Anonymous (September 14, 2007 @ 4:06pm):
I'm confused, how would having the BTN on wireless be a problem? I mean, you still have to log into the wireless system with your net ID.
Anonymous (September 22, 2007 @ 8:53pm):
huh
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