Residence hall students now have access to a digital cable system with 54 additional channels.

The new contract with Campus Televideo, effective since July, gives on-campus students access to 120 cable channels in all Kent State residence halls. A QAM tuner — included in most televisions made since 2009 — will be required to view the additional channels; however, the service will provide 10 channels in analog for televisions without digital capabilities.

The new lineup includes three Kent State media channels, a residence services channel, three Spanish channels and two Chinese channels. Students with high definition televisions will also have access to 12 high definition channels.

George Edmiston, residential technology manager for Residence Services, said he thought the additional channels and digital capabilities will be beneficial to students.

“I think the additional channels and high definition will be good for students, and the foreign language channels will better accommodate some international students,” Edmiston said. “This wasn’t a decision made by ourselves. We had the Interhall Councils choose the channels for the dorms, so we chose channels that we knew students were interested in.”

Joseph Rogers, freshman exercise science major, said he is pleased with the cable service in his dorm.

“I use Netflix very rarely, probably once a week, and I watch TV about every day,” Rogers said. “There’s so much to set up for Netflix. It’s a lot easier to just turn on the TV. “

Kate McNamara, who lives on campus, said she has a TV in her dorm room but prefers to watch episodes of her favorite shows on the Internet.

“I prefer to watch my shows online,” McNamara said. “I can pick what I want then, and not have to watch some shows that I have no interest in.”

Contact Drew Parker at [email protected].