Entertainment can be expensive on a college budget; however, students in the residence halls have access to a channel that shows current movies.

Channel 8 provides students with a variety of movies in the residence halls. The channel has been active at NIU for over ten years.

Students also have a say in what plays on Channel 8. Every month, the Residence Hall Association receives a list of recommendations, which is then narrowed down to 12 movies, said Lindsey Myers, assistant director of marketing and public relations for Housing and Dining.

“If a student would like to see a movie, they can ask their RHA representative to be looking for it,” Myers said.

When the schedule is finalized, it can usually be found on the Housing and Dining website, Myers said.

Channel 8 isn’t free for the university, but the price is included as part of the Housing and Dining annual budget as well as student room fees.

“As to why it costs money, it’s because we have to purchase the rental rights to show a movie, just like a student has to rent a video from Netflix or RedBox,” Myers said.

Karen Shultz, freshman art education major, said Channel 8 is worth its value. Schultz rarely watches channel eight, but does appreciate its availability.

“With channel eight you don’t need to get Netflix,” said Schultz.

Some students, like sophomore economics major Tiffany Brown, think Channel 8 should broaden its scale.

“I think [Channel 8] is a good idea since a lot of people don’t have DVD players,” Brown said. “I think there should be another channel like that.”

In addition, Channel 8 can host videos from student organizations as well, Myers said. Once the video is approved by Housing and Dining, the content is mixed in with the movie schedule.

“We also offer Channel 20 if campus organizations would like to submit static slides … to advertise their upcoming events,” Myers said.