By Daniel Rocchi
More than half the floors in Pitman Hall have been without working cable television since Jan. 1, an issue that continues due to residence safety procedures, according to student housing.
At the beginning of the year, television stopped getting broadcast in analogue in Canada. In order to continue receiving service, all transceivers needed to upgraded to digital broadcasting.
According to acting manager of student housing Jen Gonzales, student safety is the main reason that the cable has yet to be restored.
“What’s most important is access to the building,” Gonzales said, adding that a long approval process exists to ensure that student housing knows exactly who is entering and leaving Pitman Hall.
Representatives from Rogers would need to enter the building to upgrade the transceivers and the need to properly screen workers has resulted in lengthy negotiations with the cable service provider.
Rogers does not have a specific stance on university safety procedures, and would defer to the individual policy of an institution, according to company spokesperson Andrew Garas.
“If that’s a university decision that they require certain security clearance or certain procedures to be in place, then that’s ultimately up to the university’s discretion,” said Garas in a phone interview.
Gonzales noted the problem is not specific to Ryerson, with many residential housing offices at various universities requiring the same process.
Floors three through 14 of Pitman Hall are dedicated to student living quarters and students on floors eight to 13 in Pitman Hall will continue to live without signal on their television sets while floors seven and below have access to digital trancivers.
No specific date was granted by Gonzales and the TVs could still be out as late as next autumn.
“It was part of our residence fee, and I’d appreciate if the TV was fixed. As I was told, they’re trying to the best that they can,” said radio and television arts student, Matthew Kelly. “It would be really nice to have it resolved as quickly as possible; it’s been a while since it’s been out.” Each floor in Pitman Hall has a common room with one television shared between all the students living on the floor.
“I think it’s most frustrating because of events that are once a year or once every two years,” said photography student, Alex Rondeau, like the Olympics and the Grammys.”
“We’re trying to get the service back as quickly as we can,” Gonzales
said.
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