Comcast channel listings and remote.
By the start of the next academic year, dorms on the campus might no longer provide Comcast cable services, depending on the results of an upcoming student survey.
The original deal with Comcast was made in 2000, which included the opportunities for two extensions, said Jon Dooley, Department of Residential Facilities director Jon Dooley. The first extension lasts from 2010 until Aug. 31, 2015, and now, university officials will work on plans for the second extension, he said.
“We want to get a survey out to our students to find out how much you guys actually use your TVs,” Dooley said.
The cable contract currently costs students who live on campus about $10 each month per room, Dooley said, but Residential Facilities wants to determine how many people really want to pay for that service among the room and board costs.
Zachary Boyles, the Residence Hall Association’s Resident Facilities Advisory Board chairman, said his committee has been discussing the survey with Dooley this semester, as well as potential further steps to take.
“The survey is meant to figure out what kind of services we want the university to provide,” said Boyles, a junior government and politics major. “We want to know how many of students have a TV on campus, how many hours a week they watch live programming from their TV, how many hours they watch of streamed programming from the Internet, and whether students are using the cable and Internet wall jacks in their rooms.”
Junior sociology major Dominique Moss said she has a TV in her dorm room and uses it about twice a week.
“We mostly watch MTV,” she said. “I would probably be OK without it, though. I lived without one last year. It’s more so just for social reasons, like it’s cool to have, but not a necessity.”
Boyles said Residential Facilities wants to accumulate information about how many students watch TV on the campus, so they can use that data to negotiate with Comcast during the next contract extension.
Boyles said the survey is not yet completed, but Residential Facilities plans to distribute it in the beginning weeks of December.
There is a slight possibility this university will not provide cable to residents at all, but officials will not determine that until the survey results emerge, he said.
“If we get the survey back and 40 percent of the student body says they use their TVs regularly and want cable, then that is a service we will most likely look to provide,” Boyles said. “But if it comes back and only 20 or 10 percent of the population wants or uses cable, then it is going to be difficult to put a cost on the entire student body for the enjoyment of just a few.”
Boyles said it is also possible that campus cable and Internet services could be provided by a different company in the future. Despite the university’s Xfinity Center, Boyles said, this university isn’t tied to using Comcast as a cable service provider.
“We aren’t currently looking at any other providers nor have any gotten in contact with us,” Boyles said, “but it is a possibility down the road if we aren’t able to reach an extension with Comcast,”
Junior nursing student Destiny Jones said while it’s nice to have a TV in her room, she doesn’t use it much and doesn’t think it’s a crucial amenity.
“I never really use my TV because I have a Netflix subscription and I mostly watch things on my computer,” Jones said.
Moss also said she watches most shows and programs on her computer instead of on a TV.
“If they took it away, I don’t think it’d be a big deal,” Jones said.
When Dooley raised the question to about 50 students at the RHA’s Town Hall meeting Tuesday, about 12 students raised their hands to indicate they would be willing to continue paying for cable.
“We realize that that’s how a lot of students feel at this point,” Dooley said. “But we need to do a more formal survey before we move forward.”
