Gift from Cox Communications Lets UATV Begin 24/7 Broadcasting

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — UATV, the student-run campus television station at the University of Arkansas, is now providing programming 24 hours a day, thanks to a grant from Cox Communications. UATV is carried throughout northwest Arkansas on cable Channel 14. The $13,951 grant allowed the station to purchase an automation system, enabling UATV programs to be broadcast throughout the year, 24 hours a day. UATV shares its programming time with local high school broadcast programs in Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers.

University students and faculty will formally thank members of Cox Communications for the gift at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5, in the UATV Studio on the first floor of Kimpel Hall.

UATV went on the air in 1996. Since that time, it has only broadcast during the fall and spring semesters. The station is operated both as a lab for broadcast journalism students and as a registered student organization, producing news, sports, entertainment and public affairs programming.

“This grant from Cox Communications is about the biggest thing that has happened to us since we first went on the air more than 10 years ago,” said journalism professor Larry Foley, UATV’s faculty adviser. “We were never going to be a real TV station until we had the ability to stay on the air at all times. Now viewers can enjoy programming from the University of Arkansas at all times, and that is a very big deal for the students, and for cable viewers in northwest Arkansas.”

“Cox Communications is so pleased to make this grant to UATV - not only to help offer broadcast students the obvious advantages of real-world experience that comes through enhanced technology - but also to offer northwest Arkansas cable viewers another programming option they won’t find anywhere else,” said Kimberly Edmunds, general manager of Cox Kansas/Arkansas. “It’s exciting for our company to contribute to the education of students who will one day be leaders in the television industry.”

Cox Communications is a multi-service broadband communications and entertainment company with more than 6 million total residential and commercial customers. The third-largest cable television company in the United States, Cox offers an array of advanced digital video, high-speed Internet and telephony services over its own nationwide IP network, as well as integrated wireless services in affiliation with Sprint (NYSE: S). Cox Business is a full-service, facilities-based provider of communications solutions for commercial customers, providing high-speed Internet, voice and long distance services, as well as data and video transport services for small to large-sized businesses. Cox Media offers national and local cable advertising in traditional spot and new media formats, along with promotional opportunities and production services. Cox Communications wholly owns and operates the Travel Channel. More information about the services of Cox Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, is available at www.cox.com, www.coxbusiness.com, and www.coxmedia.com.