College's and Students Turn to Cable through the Internet - Page 2

Brad Noblet, chief information officer of Dartmouth College, integrated Dartmouth’s phone and cable lines into their wireless system to save money. The college now saves 40 percent on annual operation costs.

Saving money is just one perk of the Video Furnace system. Students can now watch lectures, news broadcasts or complete their language labs from anywhere on campus whenever they have a spare minute. And, of course, students can have some fun with the system too.

“Students love it," Noblet said. "They can sit in the middle of the Green - our grassy common area - and watch TV or make a phone call from their laptop while doing IM, e-mail or surfing the web at the same time."

Noblet added that he thinks most students are using the technology responsibly.

“The availability of CNN on your laptop adds another dimension to the accessibility of current events," Noblet said. “Its not all about ‘Sponge Bob.’"

Time Warner is also experimenting with cable through an Internet connection. In February 2005, they began a six-month long trial program in San Diego called “Broadband TV" that enables up to 9,000 subscribers to watch cable using their PCs.

Broadband TV offers subscribers the same 75 channels that are offered in Time Warner’s standard package. Instead of getting the channels from the cable to your TV, the feed runs through Time Warner’s Internet service into the user’s computer.

But students don’t need to be in San Diego to watch Time Warner cable through their computer. By using a TV Tuner Card, any PC can be hooked up to cable through a standard cable provider.

TV Tuners are PCI cards that allow users to screw their cable connection directly into the computer. TV Tuner cards can be purchased at most computer stores. The only requirement is a high-resolution monitor, which now come standard with computers.