Hello everyone, and welcome to our brand new ATV website! My name is Douglas Bell, and I’m the new Web Manager for ATV. We have dedicated over six weeks of nearly full-time work to getting this website off the ground, and we are incredibly excited to introduce this to you.

Our codename for this new site has been ANewTV. Not only is it a pun off of American University’s AnewAU campaign, but the name also recognizes that the goal of this project was not only to create a new website for ATV, but to revolutionize how ATV connects with the campus community. Of course, ATV will continue to broadcast 24/7 on channels 2 & 15 as we have, but we also recognize that a greater online presence is key for us as a network to evolve. This new site is an incredible step forward for us to better connect with our viewers and to help the AU community better connect with us.

The development of ANewTV revolved around four primary goals, and every new feature is tied to fulfilling at least one of these goals:

Goal #1: A Better Website
Our last website served us well for the past two years, but its navigation, design, and user experience was not very intuitive or interactive. As you may have noticed, our new site dramatically improves in this department:

  • A brand new theme that is just jaw-droppingly awesome. Credits for the theme go to Mystique by digitalnature, and really allows our new site to shine.
  • We have a new Network blog which you’re reading right now! We’ll be using this blog in the future to direct your attention to some of the cool stuff happening around ATV, as well as events that we’ll be putting on in the future.
  • We have an expanded About page that tells a little bit more about us and expands on our history. We have also updated our ATV welcome video on that page. (The one that’s up now is an early draft, but it gives you the idea; we will have a new version of the video up within a week or two.)
  • Our Shows page has been updated, and now features logos for each of our shows as well as subscription links for each show.
  • We have a great new Contact form for you to quickly contact any of the ATV officers or our shows producers.
  • Because Twitter is awesome, our ATV tweets are now viewable straight from our main site in the sidebar.

And a few more things coming soon…

  • Better integration with Facebook and other services.
  • For everyone who works on our shows, a new (smart) Equipment Reservation form.
  • And any other ideas that pop into our heads in the next few weeks.

Goal #2: Greater Content Distribution
Ultimately the focus of our website should be the content that we produce on our shows. And our new website opens up many ways of distributing content that we didn’t have before.

  • Every show now has its own video podcast. You can subscribe in your favorite feed reader/podcatcher through the links on the Shows page.
  • The podcast feed that aggregates all of the episodes from all of our shows still exists. However, if you were subscribed to the podcast feed before, you need to update your subscription because the feed URL has changed. Please set it now to http://auatv.com/episodesfeed/ so that you can continue to receive our episodes. Or, you now have the option of subscribing to shows a la carte, if you prefer.
  • Our Episodes page is now a great way to quickly watch the 20 most recent episodes across ATV. We also have a new QuickTime-based video player which you can watch in-line at 320 x 240 resolution, or pop open in a new window at 640 x 480 resolution. (It’s also iPhone/iPod touch-compatible now as well.)
  • ATV Classics is a new blog which features archived ATV episodes. Currently ATV Classics has most of the shows produced during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 years, and over time, we’re going to be expanding ATV Classics even further. It’s a great way to check out the still-awesome episodes of shows like Dining on a Dime, The Mike Mayer Show, Metro Hopping, Year to Date, and others. Or if you’re feeling lucky, ask it to serve up a random episode.
  • We’ve also opened up the episode posting process to our show producers, so you can start expecting episodes to be posted online sooner and more frequently.

And a few more things coming soon…

  • We’re beginning the process of submitting our shows to iTunes and other podcast directories to make it even easier for people to come back and check out our content.
  • A lot of our shows have begun producing content on YouTube, and we’ll be working on bringing that in to our site as well.

Goal #3: Websites for Each Show
A lot of our shows already have had their own websites, and we wanted to bring them in to ATV while still letting them be themselves. Therefore, all of our ATV shows now have their own unique blog on our site which you can find linked on our Shows page (or just hover over the Shows link in the navbar to see the full list of our shows). Each one is uniquely designed and directly controlled by their producers, talent, and crew. All of their episodes are posted on their blogs, and we’re going to be working with them to start publishing other content through their blogs as well. As our shows gradually start making their blogs more feature-complete, we will be spotlighting them on this Network blog.

Goal #4: Live Online Streaming
This is a big goal that we had, and we’ve done some upgrades to ATV’s tech setup to pull this off. Sure, ATV airs on channels 2 & 15, but how many students actually have a television in their dorm? And if they don’t, are they going to go to watch ATV on the television in the lounge? (I don’t know about you, but my floor’s lounge TV is always being used by people playing some video game or watching some movie.) And if you live off campus, you’re totally out of luck trying to watch ATV.
Enter the awesomeness of live online streaming. We are streaming live via uStream with the exact same programming that airs 24/7 on channels 2 & 15. The live player is also on the home page of our site, and anyone can even embed the live player onto their own sites as well. Now, you don’t need to have a television in an on-campus dorm to watch ATV; all you need is a broadband internet connection.
And sure, you could always just download or podcast the shows that you want to watch any time, but for people who just want to see what’s on, or simply want to get a taste for our ATV content, getting to tune in to our live broadcast online is hands-down awesome.

So that’s an overview of our new site. Obviously, it’s a starting point which will continue to evolve and expand going forward. But we are incredibly excited and proud to premiere ANewTV today. This site is a first step towards defining the kind of network that we want to be as prepare to start our fourth decade on the air. Of course, if you have any questions, feedback, or notice any bugs, please contact me. Thanks again for visiting and for tuning into ATV!