RUTV relaunches as Met-TV

The student-run TV network on campus at The Creative School at TMU is soon coming back with a whole new look.

Met-TV, formerly RUTV,  is relaunching after two years of being on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic with new executive members, production team and the name change.

The president of Met-TV, RTA student Sabrina Pontello, said the executive members are gathering resources to rebuild the network.

"We are working to build a strong infrastructure for Met-TV, laying a foundation which will make the organization sustainable for years to come," said Pontello.

Like the student-run newspaper and the camp[us radio station, Met-TV will provide experience for journalism students and others interested in video programming.

"We have just started to launch Met-TV News and Met-TV Entertainment, and having students with journalism backgrounds work as producers, writers or hosts for these shows would be an amazing chance for them to get hands-on, tactical experience in their field," said Pontello.

One RUTV alumni, Spencer Turcotte (external link) , Journalism ‘19, said working as a volunteer helped him build his portfolio for his career in broadcast journalism. 

 "The majority of the stories they looked at when I applied to CTV Kitchener were the stories I worked on at RuTV News at the time. So it was a great chance to, you know, get your feet wet, and, you know, build that, I guess, tool belt, if you will," said Turcotte, a reporter for CTV Kitchener.

At RUTV Turcotte said he learned how much more success he could have contacting sources in person rather than by phone or email.

"It's easy to get turned down over the phone or over email, right? When people aren't face to face with you, It's hard not to say, oh, ‘we don't have time for you today’, or ‘there's no answer’. But it's a lot harder to say ‘no’ to someone when you're face to face," said Turcotte. 

Another RUTV alumni is Melissa Bennardo (external link) , Journalism ‘15, a producer at CBC News. She says RUTV gave her access to more advanced equipment and helped her learn skills, earlier,  than in her journalism classes.  

She's also encouraging journalism students to try out their experience at Met-TV News, even if they're not into broadcast journalism.

"It's a really great opportunity to join RUTV news because it helps them make that first step and get a sense of what it's like to be in broadcast," said Bennardo.

"Don't be afraid to take risks. I know it could be scary at first pitching an idea, an original idea, but just do it." 

Pontello said the new Met-TV values equity, diversity and inclusion, will prioritize minority voices and encourage a broad and diverse range of programming to amplify BIPOC voices.

"We are dedicated to giving marginalized groups a space to elevate their voices, and we want to inspire students of all beliefs and backgrounds and give them the opportunity to develop and create their own content respective of those beliefs," said Pontello.

To get involved with Met-TV, visit their Instagram page @torontomet_tv  (external link)  and follow their linktree: https://linktr.ee/torontomettv (external link) .

Students can email mettv@torontomu.ca for general information or contact Pontello directly at mettv.president@torontomu.ca 

Our original version of this story did not accurately describe the founding of MetTV. In May 2021, MetTV emerged out of what was formerly called RUTV. It all started from a pitch document created by Jacob DeSouza who had the idea to revive the project that had been dormant since 2016 while the RTA School of Media paid to keep the website operational. Over several months of the pandemic, DeSouza created MetTV’s infrastructure, organization and hired the executive team members, eventually securing seed funding from the Society of the Creative School (SCS) and the Student Initiatives Fund (SIF) for a combined total of $12,000. After realizing the initiative gained its own momentum, he decided to push the launch to Fall 2022, handing it off to other team members.