YaleStation, a campus Web site, is in the process of becoming a project of the Yale College Council and has resolved its differences with Web television station Teli.
Founded by Alexander Clark ’04, YaleStation will operate as a part of the YCC and will continue to host streaming broadcasts of WYBC-AM and Teli, as well as the home page of the music organization Turn It Up.
“From what I can see, the nature of it would be simply YaleStation would become a project of the YCC,” YCC President Vidhya Prabhakaran ’03 said. “We would then have basically control over how YaleStation is run, but we would delegate that power to a YaleStation team which obviously Alex [Clark] would be head of until he graduates.”
Prabhakaran said the YCC will not exercise any content control over YaleStation and plans to honor all existing partnerships that YaleStation has formed.
“If this goes through, I’ll be meeting with everyone who uses YaleStation and work something out so that everyone is happy,” Prabhakaran said. “Other than that, we’ll hopefully repair some of the problems and build some new partnerships so we can service the students.”
Clark said he wanted to attach YaleStation to a more established organization and suggested to the YCC that YaleStation be the first project of a new technological arm of the YCC.
“This relationship would add legitimacy to YaleStation and provide a backbone to ensure the longevity of the organization and its services,” Clark said in an e-mail. “It would also provide the council with a valuable technological unit and technology base.”
YCC Vice President EB Kelly ’03 is writing a resolution about the acquisition of YaleStation to present to the entire YCC on Wednesday, and Prabhakaran said there should be no trouble passing the resolution.
“We had Alexander come to YCC and propose this idea to the full council so we could get their reaction to it, hear their concerns and questions, and from that we now are drafting this resolution,” Kelly said.
Kelly said the YCC has worked with YaleStation in the past to conduct surveys and elections, but that was just because Clark is “a nice person.” If YaleStation becomes a part of the YCC, Kelly said, there will be a liaison who will work with Clark on a regular basis.
Even after the resolution is passed by the YCC, Kelly said they need to talk to members of the administration before finalizing the agreement.
Prabhakaran said no YCC money should be diverted to YaleStation. On the contrary, he said the YCC might see some profit from the partnership. Clark said YaleStation could make money by providing technological services to some Yale administrative departments, but declined to say which departments.
“Obviously a lot of money would have to go for upkeep of YaleStation itself, but any extra money could be diverted to Spring Fling or other activities,” Prabhakaran said.
Teli Programming Director Iliana Bouzali ’04 declined to give details as to how Teli and YaleStation resolved their differences.
“Teli is a separate organization from YaleStation that uses technology provided by YaleStation,” Bouzali said in an e-mail. “There have been problems in the past within Teli as members disagreed upon the structure and partnerships, including the issue of whether or not to use YaleStation as a server. These problems have been resolved, and most of the original team is moving forward getting ready for our launch.”
Teli founders Beth Deters ’04 and Gil Doron ’04 and Clark have had conflicts over who has the right to the Teli name. Deters has rejoined Clark, and Doron said he is no longer involved with Web television.
Deters said they plan to begin broadcasting sometime in February and she decided to work with Clark because they have the same vision for Web television.
Bouzali said the pending partnership between YCC and YaleStation will have little effect on Teli.
“There really isn’t a direct effect, as Teli is a separate organization from YaleStation,” Bouzali said. “What the partnership with YCC will do for YaleStation, however, is implement a series of checks and balances that motivate YaleStation to keep up to date with its partnerships such as with Teli or Turn it Up.”