Last fall, Trinity University partnered with television provider Philo. According to their website, “Philo is a next-generation IPTV platform that lets viewers watch content on their favorite devices with efficient search, insightful discovery and effortless sharing.”
The partnership resulted from Philo reaching out to the Center for Learning and Technology at Trinity. After going over technological details and budgeting, the department determined that it was a good fit for the campus.
“We were going do a trial that would last for about a semester, but at that time we were coming close to ending our cable agreement with Time Warner Cable. So with Philo, they mentioned that a company we had been in contact with in the past, Campus Televideo, had a partnership with them, and Campus Televideo had a cable option. So in reality we were getting two for the price of one. If we went with them we would forgo the trial period, and we would just jump into a full subscription with cable,” said Gregory Longoria, director of the Center for Learning and Technology.
This opportunity, along with other reasons, led the University to not renew their contract with Time Warner Cable.
“We didn’t renew our contract with Time Warner for several reasons. It was standard definition, and there weren’t a lot of channels. They were going to make every TV have a converter box with another remote. So it wasn’t something we were interested in,” Longoria said.
Philo will be available to all of the Trinity community and can be accessed with a username and password provided by the Center for Learning and Technology.
“Philo is available to all Trinity students, faculty and staff and can be watched from anywhere on campus as long as you’re connected to the university network. Philo is not available off campus and will not work over a VPN connection,” Longoria said in an email to the campus.
Users can watch live HD channels and channels like HBO and Cinemax, record shows for up to 20 hours and pause and rewind live television on either a laptop, smarthphone, tablet or a television.
“With Philo you can access your account on three different devices, but you can only have one stream at a time. In that stream you get 20 hours of DVR space. With DVR you also get all HD channels, I think there are about 42 channels. HBO and other premium channels are also included,” Longoria said.
The university is also in talks to give students and faculty access to HBO Go.
“With Philo there is also an opportunity for us to get HBO Go. The deal is still in the works. Philo is only available on campus,” Longoria said. “Right now they’re going through logistics but we should be getting it prior to the end of the semester if not sooner.”
