Yale University signed a contract with a commercial service provider in early January allowing students and professors to access course material via the Internet and to legally share select music and movies on campus.
Yale signed with the service, called Cflix, in order to make archived resources like class-related videos easier for students and professors to access. The Yale campus offered a similar service before adopting Cflix, but signed on with hopes of streamlining the network and cutting costs for the institution.
Brett Goldberg, president and founder of Cflix, said the program benefits college students in a number of ways.
“Cflix offers a convenient, productive means of using the media required for homework and classroom digitally, and also entertainment,” Goldberg said. “If a student needs to check out a copy of a Spanish film for class, they no longer need to go out in the freezing cold and get it. They can watch it online from a dorm room computer or at the library.”
Goldberg also said students can hook their laptops up to a television for a larger picture of Cflix transmissions. In addition, the service also provides students with current sports scores and daily news updates.
Cflix-subscribing universities absorb the cost for the academic database, but the entertainment services Cflix offers are paid monthly based on download activity by individual Yale students, faculty and staff.
Goldberg said costs to colleges vary based on the amount of media managed.
“It’s a relatively affordable fee on an annual basis [for universities],” he said.
Through bursar or other on-campus billing methods, students and faculty at subscribing universities can pay by the download or purchase subscription packages for music and films. New films cost $3.99 to download from Cflix, while older movies can be downloaded for $1.99.
Cflix will soon offer a free access of media on campus through Digital Village, a showcase of college talent. Digital Village will be launched in the near future with Cflix’s digital music component, which will be similar to iTunes and Napster, Goldberg said.
Chuck Powell, director of Academia Media & Technology at Yale University Information Technology Services, said although the university is “very, very happy” with their initial dealings with Cflix, the university is still exploring other service possibilities.
“On the entertainment front we are worried that this is a very new service, and it’s not at all clear what models will work best,” he said. “So we’re prepared to explore various options over time as necessary.”
Yale’s website states ITS departments have worked with Cflix to ensure the program does not monopolize scarce resources on campus and manages the university’s bandwidth effectively.
Powell said Cflix has met Yale’s goals so far.
“We’ve been thrilled so far with both student and faculty impressions of the educational services,” he said. “The entertainment piece simply will require more time to assess.”
Cflix began at Duke University, and is currently providing service to Yale University, Wake Forest College and the University of Colorado at Denver.
