The Vision - A Network Begins - The Modern Era - The Digital Future - UNC-TV's Mission - Timeline

UNC-TV enters the digital age with a state-of-the-art Network Operations Center

When Molly Corbett Broad took the helm as President of the University in 1997, it became immediately clear that like her predecessors Friday and Spangler, she would be enthusiastic about the potential of UNC-TV. Indeed, President Broad is widely recognized nationally as a leading visionary in the use of technology to advance education, and quickly understood the role that public television could play in that effort.

It was shortly after President Broad’s arrival in North Carolina that UNC-TV confronted its greatest challenge. In 1997 the FCC issued a report and order requiring all television broadcasters to convert to digital technology. As a statewide network with 11 transmitters, UNC-TV faced a daunting $65 million price tag to make the mandatory change.

Because of her firm belief in the potential of digital television to serve all North Carolinians, President Broad, with the endorsement of the UNC Board of Governors and the leadership of the General Assembly, decided to include funding for UNC-TV’s digital conversion in the Higher Education Improvement Bond referendum, which was on the statewide election ballot in 2000. It was a bold proposal, with the $3.1 billion total making it the largest bond issue in the history of American higher education. The referendum passed with the support of 73 percent of the electorate.

Today, UNC-TV’s digital conversion is complete. North Carolinians now enjoy a family of digital public television services, including UNC-TV, UNC-KD, a 24-hour children’s channel, UNC-ED, a dedicated educational channel, UNC-HD, featuring all high-definition programming, and The Digital Future and UNC-NC, a channel that provides a mixture of local, educational, and public affairs programming.

With the new digital technology comes even greater opportunity for service to the state, and certainly UNC-TV’s focus on local programming continues. The latest additions to the broadcasting schedule include North Carolina Weekend and Our State. The value and impact of UNC-TV’s efforts have not gone unnoticed in the television industry. UNC-TV has won recognition from CPB, PBS, regional networks and statewide organizations for its production, promotion, outreach, and development activities. Through the end of 2004, UNC-TV had received more than 100 industry awards. UNC-TV’s overall accomplishments were perhaps best recognized though two awards bestowed on its director and general manager Tom Howe – the Distinguished Service Award in 2003 from the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Board of Governors of the Mid-South Region of the National Academy of Television Arts and Science. These prestigious industry awards are reflections of the excellent work of every individual connected with UNC-TV.

Of course, the true measure of any public television network’s value is in how well it serves the needs of those who use its services. As UNC-TV moves forward in the twenty-first century, it does so with an appreciation of its proud history, but also with a mission that has been rewritten to bring focus on the needs of the future. Carefully developed by the UNC-TV management team and Board of Trustees, the new mission statement that guides North Carolina’s statewide public television network provides a fitting conclusion for this history – which is, after all, still very much a work in progress.