D3TV has big dreams for new equipment small enough to allow broadcasting live from almost anywhere on campus.
Allocations Board is currently deciding whether to give the campus television station $8,000 of the approximately $10,000 left in the budget for a Tricaster studio box and secondary equipment. The PC tower-sized box would allow D3TV to set up a mobile studio and then go live from anywhere on campus where internet is available.
"Basically, it's a remote production unit that allows you to broadcast events live on campus using the Internet," said D3TV general manager Ashley Nelson. "It takes what we have in our studio and puts it into a box."
Right now, D3TV can only broadcast from its studio in the Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media. That means if an event outside of its formal studio is to go on the air, it has to be fully recorded and edited before being played.
"Our campus isn't wired right now for us to go live anywhere. But, this would let us do anything as far as events go — Ubben lectures, athletic events and anything the media is allowed to film," Nelson said. "Then, alumni, people off campus or people who couldn't make it to those events can watch."
Nelson says the piece of equipment has the ability to dramatically increase viewership for the station by tapping into those audiences.
Live events would take precedent over regularly scheduled programming on the air, and would be streamed online to D3TV's website.
The station conducted a test run of the Tricaster equipment this weekend to remotely broadcast the football matchup between DePauw and Albion College. Nelson said the run went smoothly, and confirmed the strengths of the technology.
If Allocations Board approves the funds, which would be in addition to the $6,119 already budgeted for the television station this semester, D3TV would set up a mobile studio to broadcast WGRE's two-and-a-half-hour Monon Bell pre-game show on Saturday. They wouldn't be able to shoot the game, though, because HD SportsNet owns exclusive rights.
WGRE was budgeted $1,500 for the semester, and hasn't received any additional funds from Allocations Board. The DePauw is independent of the university and receives no money from Allocations Board.
Rob Weidner, one of two directors of scheduling and operations, said that while the prospects are in many ways "revolutionary" for the campus station, there would be challenges.
"One thing that everyone needs to understand is that we still need a solid understanding of who's going to be the one producing all the stuff and going to the events," Weidner said.
He said "no promises yet" on how able the current workforce at D3TV would be to staff the equipment at events, but hoped to share some of that responsibility with other organizations on campus, like the communication, athletic or admissions departments.
Remote broadcasting requires at minimum one trained personnel to set up, operate and take down video equipment on the scene. For a larger production with more than one camera or anchors on scene, a staff of five could be needed.
D3TV expects to hear from Allocations Board decision by Thursday.