By Matthew Palmer
One of the most amusing and enviable scenes in the 1995 film "Hackers"
is when the two competing teenagers take over a local television station.
With their hacking skills, they are able to pop videotapes in and
out at the station, controlling what show is being broadcast. Under
certain conditions, MITV can give the same thrill, only without the
risk of prison time.
MITV not only operates a student-run television station at MIT, but
also offers a web site that, in theory, hands the reins over to its
viewers. "The Button" service shows a list of available
shows online. Users can read a brief description of the show and,
with just one click, schedule it to be played at the next available
time slot on television. This one show is not streamed only to the
user; the selection will be shown on any television tuned to MITV.
The site also offers a basic description of their on-air shows and
what they call "video on demand," which is no more than
a handful of MITV show clips available for download. The real video
on demand is "The Button" service. That demand might have
to be delayed, however. A viewer may have to wait several hours to
see their selected video play on television if many people are already
in line. However, "The Button" is rarely crowded. This is
partly due to the lack of awareness about the service and the lack
of popularity of the television network. It may also result from the
content there are only a few shows available, and some of those
are LSC movie trailers and UA Council meetings.
The medium is also a problem. Televisions on campus are far from ubiquitous
among students. From my experience, even those who have TVs in their
rooms watch them infrequently. This is largely because MIT students
have little time to sit down and watch a half-hour or hour long program.
"The Button" is one interesting solution to this. By choosing
the program and the time to watch it, students are more flexible to
fit it in their schedule.
Obviously, this system is only practical for a TV station with a small
audience. Slightly larger stations could consider a voting system,
but "The Button" has two other advantages for low-budget
operations. No one has to be at the controls constantly cueing up
tapes, and a television station could be run continually with very
few shows. MITV appears to use "The Button" to alleviate
both of these.