GVTV is a student-run club as well as a student media outlet that has been providing content to the Grand Valley State University community for over a decade. Their content aims to bring students together as well as offer a creative outlet for participating students and faculty. 

Over the years, GVTV has had a limited audience due to old, antiquated equipment, which did not allow for much exposure outside of the immediate GVSU community. Content could only be attained through a Youtube channel and was viewable on TV only to students with a cable outlet in dorms. 

“Right now the programming software is so old that it couldn’t be updated,” said Professor James Ford, the GVTV faculty advisor. 

This past year, the system gave out completely, which meant that it was time to revamp the equipment into something more modern and accessible.

The new equipment will be valued at around $24,000, which has been set aside over the years for this specific purpose. This equipment will upgrade the system from standard definition to high definition, which will broaden access to audiences and provide higher quality entertainment. 

In addition to a better overall system, the equipment will provide GVTV with pivotal new live streaming abilities. The studio will be able to take a live feed from anywhere on campus that contains shared wifi or an ethernet connection and stream it directly to the new media system. This will show live feed in real-time with no latency. GVSU will now be able to stream sports with no pre-existing contracts with broadcast entities, such as hockey and basketball to anyone on or off-campus.

This new streaming service will be available as an app through ROKU and Apple TV services. Live TV, as well as on-demand videos, will be available to stream at any time.

In addition to incorporating live streaming, students will also be able to access GVTV content through a new branded YouTube channel. 

“We’ve been trying to raise the stature of student media; we’ve been trying to get students to talk to students,” Ford said. 

With this newfound access, students, faculty or anyone interested, will be able to watch student-produced content at any time during the day. This means big changes and ultimately a worthwhile investment for the creativity of students. 

“Investing in this is a good idea to make people excited to produce content for their peers in their own terms,” Ford said.

This equipment is planned to be installed during Oct. 25-26.

GVTV describes their content as ranging anywhere from news to documentaries to serialized fiction and cartoon programs. Nothing is off-limits when it comes to the creative outlet that this club provides for participating students. Even when a student outside of GVTV has a creative pitch idea, they are welcome to introduce it to the group, which is meant to mirror exactly what happens in the real world.

Students interested in music production can also be included in Black Box, a music-centered aspect of GVTV. This focuses on interviewing local artists and making a feature or music video about them. 

Anyone is welcome to join, there is no experience necessary, and anyone with no preexisting experience will be offered training on site. This means that no matter what a student’s major is, they are welcome and valued in the GVTV community. 

Due to COVID-19 complications, GVTV has lost student engagement this past year, but with about 70 active members, they have been able to keep producing content for their audience. GVTV is a club that thrives off of creativity and is always actively recruiting new members.

“(GVTV) is a great place to take the things you learn in the classroom and apply them in the real world, but on your own terms,” Ford said.

GVTV meets every Monday at 9 PM in person or over zoom, if necessary.