In the mid-1990s Central Connecticut State University worked with the local cable provider to begin a build out of cable television services to the campus.  Since that time, the University has grown the cable service to include campus-specific television channels.  Included in this group are CCSU TV, Residence Life Cinema, and mtvU.  

These specialized channels offer the students of Central Connecticut State University something distinct.  CCSU TV is at the heart of these services.  This television channel launched as part of a Strategic Planning Grant program on the campus in 2001.  The grant program had a development area that targeted the Improvement of Internal Campus Climate.  CCSU TV was awarded funding in this category in an effort to aid in addressing the daunting task of effectively communicating information across an ever-expanding campus community.  CCSU TV would improve upon the internal climate of the campus by giving its viewers a sense of community. The grant award was utilized to create a robust informational bulletin board, begin televising localized campus related programming, and provide timely news from outside the campus.  The bulletin board feature would also serve as an additional public outlet for critical University announcements. 

The channel went into service in 2003 and boasts a high quality informational service known on campus as VideoNet and a completely digital MPEG 2 broadcast quality video server for the playback of channel programming.  The informational and programming services are operated by the Media Services group, a unit of the Information Technology department on campus.  CCSU TV is located on cable position 23, on the campus cable system only. 

The VideoNet service highlighting campus events and announcements runs continuously on the channel.  It is designed and updated by a part time university assistant a few times each week.  Television programming on the channel has grown over the years to include the campus-produced series Central Arts, Central Authors, The Central Educator, some live campus events including the renowned Robert Vance Academic Lecture Series, campus guest lecturers, and occasional departmental programming.  In addition to these campus-produced efforts, CCSU TV provides for free and independent programming from a number of sources.  Included in this group are an educational business/MIS series called World Business Review, syndicated outdoor programming from New Visions Productions, and a late night break from the norm for our students via the National Lampoon Network.

The channel also serves in small part to place an accent on the excellent production work performed by CCSU students who work in the Media Center.  Each semester a small group of student workers are hired to produce the Central Arts and Central Authors series.  They also assist the Media Center to capture and produce many of the campus televised programs.  The real-life exposure to production demands such as deadlines and quality control, and becoming successful in an independent work environment are important educational components of the mission of the video production arm of the Media Center.

CCSU TV is something special for our campus.