During the finals week last semester, there were some changes to the available channels on campus.

CableOne signed a formal agreement with Nexstar to begin airing KSNF and KODE again after a dispute last year.

John Hoffmann, general manager with KSNF, said he is happy about the agreement and said students can look forward to viewing their favorite shows again.

Nexstar, the parent company for KSNF and KODE, was also working on an agreement with CableOne for stations in Midland, Kan., and Shreveport, La., which allowed the two companies to review their commitment with one another on the Joplin stations.

Hoffmann said the dispute began with Nexstar taking the air signal from KSNF and KODE and distributing along with its CableOne package. Nexstar asked for a compensation and CableOne refused.

“It was our feeling that the cable system had piggy-backed their system on local stations,” Hoffmann said.

After the two companies could not come to an agreement, the channels were cut from the line-up.

Hoffmann said the new agreement allows Missouri Southern students living in the residence halls more choices in their viewing habits.

“They now have a full complement of stations,” he said.

The residence halls are wired with CableOne systems to each room, allowing each resident to have cable.

Judy Stiles, general manager of KGCS-LP, said the agreement did not affect the availability of Southern’s TV station.

“It’s been interesting to see how it’s developing,” Stiles said. “It’s showing you people have so many choices.”

Stiles said both CableOne and the local stations have helped KGCS-LP in the past and will continue to in the future.

She said KODE, KOAM and KSNF have helped students with internships and job opportunities while CableOne helped provide KGCS-LP with its first cable feed, allowing the station to begin.

Steven Wolven, senior mass communication major and KGCS-LP student station manager, said the students on campus were effected when the local stations were taken off the air.

Wolven is a student assistant in the residence halls as well. He said he had students asking him what they could do to replace the stations on their television sets.

“You just needed to go buy rabbit ears,” he said. “You never really lost the channels unless you didn’t have rabbit ears.”

Wolven said, though, even with the need for an attachable antenna, some students did not bother buying one because of the quality of the signal.

“It’s nice to have them back,” he said. “We heard complaints from people.”

Some students said they did notice the change, but others said they did not.

“I think the local channels should be broadcast here,” said Marc Rogers, freshman biology major.

Rogers said he did not watch television much, but he did miss having the variety available to him.

Mike Grimes, freshman CADD major, said he lived on campus last semester without the two channels available and is glad they are back.

“I didn’t think it was harder, just more annoying because you have to switch back and forth,” he said

Grimes said he would go elsewhere to find the local channels.

He did not know the channels were back on the cable system, but is ready to view them.

“I’m kind of happy now,” he said.

Students off campus were also affected by the channel change.

“I’m glad that they’re back,” said Ashley Creasy, junior dental hygiene major. “It’s more convenient now to have the local news.”

Creasy said she was looking through the stations one day and found the channels back on the cable system. She said the stations provided her with the local news.

“You just didn’t know about the little things going on,” she said.