Columbia College and ABC 7 Chicago Partner on HD Media Truck

Columbia College and ABC 7 Chicago Partner on HD Media Truck

CHICAGO, June 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- ABC 7 Chicago and Columbia College have reached an exclusive multi-year agreement on the school's new media production truck. Through this partnership, ABC 7 will help outfit the school's media production truck with state-of-the art HD equipment, Columbia College will give ABC 7 access to the truck for the broadcast of parades and other local events and ABC 7 will provide Columbia College with internships and valuable experience for their students.

For the past 12 months, faculty and technicians from Columbia College Chicago's School of Media Arts have been at work building out a Media Production Truck (MPT) -- a 24-ft-long studio-on-wheels media production center fully equipped with audio and video production facilities. Recent collaboration with ABC 7 Engineering has helped add HD broadcast capabilities to the truck with the addition of HD cameras and other HD production equipment.

"This is a wonderful new opportunity for our students," says Doreen Bartoni, dean of Columbia's School of Media Arts. "Many of our media students, over the years, have gained terrific experience through internships at the station. This arrangement adds another layer to both skill building and networking opportunities. It's a real pooling of resources and a win/win arrangement."

"Our partnership with Columbia College is not only mutually beneficial, it is very unique," said Emily Barr, president and general manager, ABC 7. "We are proud to help one of the finest media and arts colleges in the country obtain cutting edge HD technology for their media truck and hands-on TV production experience for their students. In turn, access to Columbia's "studio on wheels" enables us to continue broadcasting our community parades and local specials in clear, crisp high definition television."

Source: Columbia College

CONTACT: Micki Leventhal of Columbia College, +1-312-344-7383, or Jayme
Nicholas of ABC 7 Chicago, +1-312-750-7254

NOTE TO EDITORS: Doreen Bartoni and Emily Barr available for comment

---

Profile: International Entertainment