After a two-month absence from the airwaves, BTV:65 will debut this week on Internet Protocol Television, the University's online television service, according to BTV President Ari Schnitzer '07.Schnitzer blamed the extended broadcasting hiatus partly on the shift from cable broadcasting to IPTV. He said BTV officials discussed the change with Library and Technology Services, which runs the IPTV service, last fall and were told that the system would be ready at the beginning of this semester.

"We're just as upset about [the hiatus] as everyone else, but we were looking to roll out a full product, not just some kind of a joke-to do it right and do it right the first time," Schnitzer said.

Schnitzer said IPTV broadcasting will require less maintenance and provide viewers with better picture and sound quality. BTV was previously run via Windows Media Player through one computer and required constant maintenance, he said.

LTS officials said they were ready to put BTV on the air last spring along with the other eight channels offered on the service, but the station was experiencing difficulties encoding BTV's content into the correct encoding format for IPTV.

Schnitzer said LTS didn't have the server space for BTV last spring.

"They just didn't have the equipment for us," Schnitzer said. "There's a lot more capacity this semester. "

"It's been a lot of work for them," Manager of Media and Technology Services Tim O'Neil said. "They bring their assets in so we can encode them, but they didn't have the resources to do that."

LTS officials said IPTV will help BTV precisely schedule its programming content. The IPTV system includes a guide that displays program times.

"Before, no one ever knew what was on when," O'Neil said. "This will help them advertise."

Jacob Bockelmann '09, the liaison from the Union's Finance board to BTV, said he is very pleased with BTV's transition to IPTV.

"The transition will be tough, but I think it will work out best for everyone in the community," Bockelmann said.

BTV Programming Vice President Rachel Bethany '07 also said the programming break was necessary while the station was acquiring professional-grade equipment and training students in its use.

"Having people who know what they're doing is such an issue," Bethany said. "You can't have someone just sit down and push a button."

Schnitzer said BTV also suffered a personnel shortage due to students who left or graduated last spring, which led to a pressing need for training. Bethany said that BTV has been focusing on developing and training a new member base.

Avi Swardlow '10, the producer of BTV's news show The Beat, said the alliance with WIP is part of an effort to allow for students to do more film- production work and have their films shown on the network.