The School of Journalism & Graphic Communication updated Florida A&M University on the progress of the The Black Television News Channel Feb. 10.
Ann Kimbrough, the dean of SJGC, began the community conversation with a brief acknowledgement to respective parties.
“Our students, especially in SJGC, are going to have some primary integrated roles in this process,” Kimbrough said. “This process includes our educational, social, political, as well as physical infrastructure building as we work toward the debut of this brand new network.”
In fact, FAMU students have already begun contributing to the success of the network. Students from the School of Architecture and Engineering Technology designed potential building layouts for the new facilities that were shown to the community Tuesday.
Also, unveiled at the community meeting was the decision to install equipment that uses 4K technologies into the facilities. Commonly known as Ultra HDTV, 4k was a video resolution rivaled only to the movie projection industry at this time.
“4k will be the studio in the country that people will envy,” said J.C. Watts, the former Republican congressman who originally proposed the idea of the BTNC.
The 4k technologies, which are being provided by SONY, will be the first integrated installation of its kind. These new technologies will be accessible to IT/Engineering students as well as other interested students.
“Our core business is a 24-hour cable news channel, but we’re also a mobile application, and we’re also going to have an ecommerce site,” said Bob Brillante, a managing member of BTNC.
BTNC will be the first channel to totally integrate what is called “enhanced television services.” Enhanced television services will allow viewers to interact with their programming in new ways. With the press of a button, viewers will be able to order an advertised product instantly.
“I think the possibilities will be endless,” said Patricia Green-Powell, the interim dean professor of The School of Education. Green-Powell expects that students will leave the university with a sense of integration and newly formed methodologies.
“It’s priceless as I look at it from the eyes of a dean over the education department,” Green-Powell said.
The community forum ended with an informative Q&A that was followed up with food and refreshments. Administration and BTNC representatives assured attendees that there would be more forums alike to discuss the network and its relationship with the community.