User:Tomisaac/British Student Television/

'''This stuff has all been copied over and has replaced NaSTA. As of 08-08-07 this draft is obsolete, go check out British_Student_Television instead'''

Definition
'''what is student TV, is something that a university establishes? or do some students with a Video camera uploading on youtube count?'''

Student Television encapsulates an enormous variety of different styles techniques and distribution methods, from large stations funded by their universities and broadcasting into university accomodation, to a single student uploading vlogs to the web. this often reflects the UK style of programming, high idea and low budget often relying on ingenuity and humor.

Start article
Student Television in the United Kingdom is a growing field (ref?), with an increasing number of major Universities and some colleges playing host to a student-run TV station. Most UK stations are affiliated with the National Student Television Association (NaSTA) (what is NaSTA?). The size, scope, budget and organisational makeup of stations is extremely varied, ranging from online-only broadcasters with a handful of members to stations with their own cable broadcast networks and dedicated studios.

History
Student Television in the UK actually predates the founding of some national broadcasters (C4 at least, need a reference). Glasgow University Student Television (GUST) was founded in 1964 \cite {http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article347910.ece } by? and why? what where the intial facilities? challenges?, and was the first in the United Kingdom (YSTV may take issue with this, prepare for a debate) - nope, YSTV was 1967 \cite {http://ystv.york.ac.uk/about/realwiki/images/a/a0/1967_northern_echo.png } so is only the oldest in England.

Section on early filming/broadcast methods? Earliest production was live, sometimes on b/w super-16 (not sure I can reference that), expensive and not nearly as regular. )

during the 1980s many stations collapsed, for one reason or another unable to maintain production, the reason for this vary but the key underlining reason was as with all student groups they depend on the voluntary contribution of students as this is an unstable factor year to year, the skill required to run such a complex operation were lost as people graduated. GUST was a notable exception to this and maintained the Nasta group during this decline. YSTV also kept going strong, and in 1988 broke the World Record for the longest continuous broadcast under a single director (Keith Hide-Smith) \cite {Guinness Book of World Records, 1990, page 233, by Norris McWhirter}. however with easy to use digital technology and the growth of media courses many of universities have seen a return of station some are reboots of old stations such as at the University of Leicester whereas others are completely new as with the university of Plymouth.

prior to the advent of digital video technology particularly computer editing software a student television station were both costly and the programmes adourous to edit. When digital technology became available and reliatively cheap it became possible for students to take advantage and many new stations were set up at the end of the nineties and early part of these decade and the number continue to grow each year. (just look at number of new stations in past few years)

The first documented NaSTA conference was held in Plymouth in 1970. The earliest web-based records of a NaSTA conference date from the 1995 conference, when the member stations were, BTV, CTV, GUST, GTV, LUST, Nexus, STOIC and YSTV. (should this section be here or in NaSTA section? not sure I know) (i think it shows the growing size of the national community)

with the advent of cheap digital editing software and affordable camera equipment the number of station began to expand expontional, (mention relevant stations)

Comparison to other student media (newspaper, radio etc.) goes here?
Student television is a recent addition to student media in the UK and in most university as extremely limited distribution most use the web as there primary means.

Comparison to other student tv in other countries? US? Europe? goes here?
unlike US colleges no UK station broadcasts over the airwaves, and only Demon has cabled network to its halls, though several stations take advantage of there university's computer networks to stream content. Most broadcast on a network of screens around campus similar to the ones found in some highschools. the UK does not have any national student tv networks like MTVU.

Current style and production techniques
Techinques vary from station to station some emulate professional television stations, with equipped studios control booths and editing suits, some have no fixed basis relying on members own camcorders and computers for production. most station rely heavily on magazine style shows often broadcast live once a week then repeated. these will include individual segments, often reviews and news programmes with few producing comedy or drama. these segemtns are often made available on demand online after broadcast, few station sell their content most likely for copyright and licensing reasons (rating of DVDs is mandatory in the UK) a notable exception to this is LUST who do retail their programmes via their website. Student television was quick to utilise digital video which is now increasingly used in the mainstream such as British documentary taking liberties. warwick's station use the Cannon XL1 the same camera that was used on hit british film 28 days later

Cultural Impact
how has student tv impact british media? are there techniques that have filtered through? notable alumni?

Student produced television is becoming increasingly recognised in the UK, the National Union of Students, Royal Television Society and Manchester Guardian all have awards for student television stations and student produced content. The student animation Badgered as nominated for the academy award in 2006.

NaSTA
what is Nasta? is it a body to represent student tv in the Media is and awards association, or is it a governing body?

The National Student Television Association, NaSTA, is formed from affiliated stations from throughout the UK. The number of affiliated stations varies from year to year, but historically it consists of approximately fifteen active stations \cite{http://web.archive.org/web/20060206230243/www.nasta.org.uk/stations/}. NaSTA's stated aim is "To foster communication and collaboration between its member stations, offer support and advice to new stations, and raise the profile of student TV in the UK." It acts as both a hub for the UK student TV community, and as an interface between student TV and the wider broadcast industry.

NaSTA also runs an annual awards ceremony, in which eligible stations submit examples of their programming for appraisal by judges drawn from the wider broadcast industry.

Every year one of the affiliated stations volunteers to host the awards and takes over the role of administering NaSTA - this includes the managing of finances, communications and promotion for the entire organisation. Since the 2006 conference NaSTA has had a non binding constitution detailing the responsibilities of the host stations and scope of the organisation. NaSTA customarily maintains a website containing forums, information and resources for it's member stations.