Student television in the United Kingdom is the act of students from

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

and

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

s around the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

producing and publishing video content independently, operating in a similar fashion to a small

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

. Student television stations exist all around the United Kingdom. Content is not generally output across traditional media, as a

broadcast licence A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which vary ...

may be prohibitively expensive to small

non-profit organisation A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

s. Most student television stations use the Internet as a primary method of distributing content; either on a dedicated website, via their university's pages or on video sharing sites such as

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. Student television encapsulates a variety of different programming styles and techniques: from large stations funded by their universities who broadcast into student accommodation and buildings, to a single student uploading occasional shows to the web. Some student stations are affiliated with The National Student Television Association (abbreviated NaSTA), which has forty member stations. The association holds an awards ceremony once a year to reward the best work submitted by the member stations across a number of categories.

History

Some student television stations in the United Kingdom pre-date the founding of national broadcasters like

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

(1982) and

Five 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

(1997).

Glasgow University Student Television Glasgow University Student Television (more commonly known as GUST) is the student television station at the University of Glasgow and the oldest student-run television station in the world, founded in 1964. GUST is affiliated with the National Stud ...

was the first student television station to be founded in the United Kingdom, in 1964. It is the oldest student television station in Europe. Although technically, a station was founded in the United States that predates GUST, this station was staff run for students. This means that GUST is the oldest student-run student television station in the world.

York Student Television York Student Television (abbreviated YSTV) is England's oldest student television station. Founded in 1967, the station is based at the University of York, with its studio in James College. YSTV once held the world record for longest continuo ...

followed in 1967, and was the first station to be started in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Prior to the advent of digital video technology, particularly editing software, a student television station was costly to run and the programmes were difficult to edit. As digital technology became more available and its cost reduced, it became possible for student societies to move to digital video production.

Cultural impact

Student produced television is becoming increasingly recognised in the United Kingdom, with the National Union of Students having awards for both "Best Media Student" and "Student Broadcaster of the Year", as well as the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

's awards for student television stations and student produced content.

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

hosts its Student Media Awards annually, offering a "Broadcast Journalist of the year" award. YSTV from its foundation in 1967 had a twice-weekly news show aimed at students, named Newsround, that pre-dated the BBC show of the same name In 2006, An animation called Badgered by Sharon Colman who was a student at the National Film and Television School was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for Best Animated Short Film. In 2011 the short film
The Confession
by Tanel Toom, who was a student at the National Film and television School, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Film.

The National Student Television Association

The National Student Television Association (NaSTA) was believed to be formed in 1970,Wilby, P., ''Campus newspapers are in the red'', The Observer, 24 October 1971, p. 7. and comprises over forty affiliated stations from all over the United Kingdom. In late 2016, it was discovered that the Association was formed in 1968. It runs an annual awards ceremony in which eligible stations submit examples of their programming for appraisal by judges drawn from the wider broadcast industry. The most recent edition was held by QuaysTV, the station run out of The University of Salford. The 2021 Awards will be the second consecutive time QuaysTV have hosted the annual awards. After originally winning the bid in 2019, COVID-19 cancelled the scheduled awards for 2020 and they were later held virtually from MediaCityUK in October of 2020. The association is currently led by the Chair, Joe Wilmot. Previous people who have chaired the association include Benjamin Kay, Christopher Osborn and Avneet Chauhan. The earliest evidence of a NaSTA awards ceremony is the late 1970s. GUST still have the trophy that was awarded to the winners and have a video archive with interviews following the win. YSTV possess a "freestyle award" trophy from 1989. The earliest documented record of a NaSTA conference however dates from the 1995 conference, with eight member stations in attendance. Each year one of the affiliated stations volunteers to be the host station of NaSTA, hosting the awards ceremony and administrating the organisation - this includes the managing of finances, communications and promotion for the entire organisation. In October 2008, NaSTA launched Freshers TV, a collaboration of over 20 student stations across the United Kingdom providing a television channel to cover

freshers' week Student orientation or new student orientation (often encapsulated into an orientation week, o-week, frosh week, welcome week or freshers' week) is a period before the start of an academic year at a university or tertiary institutions. A variety ...

at universities across the country. This was made available on Freewire, SUBtv and online via the Freshers TV website with the assistance of the

JANET Janet may refer to: Names * Janet (given name) * Janet (French singer) (1939–2011) Surname * Charles Janet (1849–1932), French engineer, inventor and biologist, known for the Left Step periodic table * Jules Janet (1861–1945), French psych ...

network. The first live FreshersTV show was broadcast in October 2010 by hosts, LSTV, and another in October 2011 by new hosts

SUSUtv SURGEtv, also known as Surge Television and formerly SUSUtv, is a student television station that serves the students of the University of Southampton. The station was commissioned in 2006 and is a union group within the University of Southamp ...

. 2012 Host: YSTV, 2013 Host: LA1:TV from Lancaster. 2014 Host: Demon TV (DeMontfort University 2015 Host: Forge TV (University of Sheffield) 2016 Host: CUTV (Cardiff Union TV) 2017 Host:Guild TV (University of Birmingham) 2018 Host: Forge TV (University of Sheffield) 2013 saw the addition of the People's Choice Awards to the annual events. The awards differed from the previous awards in that they were voted for entirely by the audience through online voting. 2013 Host: SUSUTV (University of Southampton 2014 Host: SXTV (University of Essex) 2015 Host: XTV (University of Exeter) 2016 Host: Rhubarb TV (University of Royal Holloway) 2020's award show was hosted entire online and livestreamed from Salford. The upcoming 2021 Conference and Awards show, scheduled for November 2021, is expected to be an "in person" event, also in Salford.

References

External links

NaSTA
{{Media in the United Kingdom, rmg Television organisations in the United Kingdom British student media groups Student societies in the United Kingdom Streaming television