Cable TV Could Come to Houses

A low-cost plan to pipe satellite television into student dorm rooms via power lines could be implemented in some of the Houses as early as this fall. The final decision as to whether a House will get the technology will lie with its masters.

Collaborating with College administrators, several students who pushed for the plan all year have managed to overcome legal and technological hurdles to make the implementation of the plan feasible.

Under their proposal, a television signal would be received by a satellite dish on a dormitory roof, transmitted to a converter box in the basement, and then sent via existing electrical wires to individual rooms.

Nicholas J. Castine ’09, who has spearheaded the technological side of the effort, estimated that students would be able to take advantage of the system for a monthly fee of $25 to $35 per room. They would likely have access to about 250 channels provided by DirecTV.

Castine said a limited trial run was needed before the system could be offered to all of the Houses. Associate Dean of the College Judith H. Kidd emphasized that even after the test phase, each House would need the approval of its masters before installing the technology.

“We may, in fact, do this if we can get a set of masters to agree,” Kidd said. She added that differences among Houses would create challenges for implementing the plan that would have to be addressed on a case-by-case basis.

Student supporters of the plan voiced optimism that it would be implemented.

“We’re very confident that it’s going to happen and we’re really pleased with the help the administration has been giving us this far,” said Joseph W. Stanley ’09, an Undergraduate Council representative who has been working on the issue or more than a year.

The cost of installing the technology in all 12 Houses would be less than $300,000, according to Castine, and would be paid for from the monthly student fee. He said the University would not need to cover the cost of any part of the service.

Since its implementation will be based on the decisions of individual masters, the plan has the potential to create inequality among Houses. Yet some undergraduate dormitories already have access to cable television, including the apartments at 10 and 20 DeWolfe St. and Pforzheimer House’s Jordan Hall.

“There’s already a degree of inequality, so we’re actually trying to bring equality to the Houses,” said UC Vice President Matthew L. Sundquist ’09, who has worked with the plan’s backers to garner support from the central College administration.

Castine said that the proposal had yet to be presented to individual House administrators, and masters contacted yesterday were unaware of its logistics.

“The last plan I knew of involved using the IT system and that was just a non-starter,” said Leverett House Master Howard Georgi ’68. “If there’s something that’s a starter, I’ll think about it, but so far I haven’t seen it.”

UC President Ryan A. Petersen ’08, an active backer of the plan, said that after the technology is first implemented, its initial success could push all the House masters to accept it.

“Ultimately, the decision-making authority lies with the House master. However, House masters are exceptionally attentive to undergraduate needs and desires,” Petersen said. He added that if the system proves successful in some Houses, others “will want to emulate that.”

Sundquist cast the undergraduate-led effort to wire rooms with television as a response to Harvard officials’ lack of action on the matter.

“FASCS is dragging their feet on something that they could be doing,” he said, referring to Faculty of Arts and Sciences Computer Services. “If the administration isn’t willing to provide something that’s reasonable to students, I think then it’s reasonable for students in response to look into alternative means.”

If the plan is implemented, students who choose to pay for television would plug a small box into a power outlet in their room. An Ethernet cord would then transmit the signal to a computer or another box that connects to a television set.

Castine said his group, given a go-ahead, would be ready to set up a test program in a small number of rooms within a week.

He estimated that it would take about two months to wire all 12 Houses with the technology.

Castine, a transfer student from the University at Buffalo, said he arrived here in September and “was sort of perplexed at the idea that cable wasn’t here.”

He took it upon himself to address the issue, and realized that wiring all the dorms for cable was not feasible—it would cost $15 to $20 million, he said. Castine explored various other options of getting television into student rooms, and settled on power line communication as the best option for the Houses. The technology is used to wire television signals into buildings without built-in networking capabilities.

Castine said he wanted to focus on bringing satellite into upperclassmen dormitories before considering similar efforts for freshmen in the Yard.

—Staff writer Victoria B. Kabak can be reached at vkabak@fas.harvard.edu.