Video guru Cook keeps Penn cabled

The Penn alum controls the television content of the ResNet system. Back in the late 1980s, when Chris Cook was still a Penn undergraduate, there was no such thing as the Penn Video Network. "In my hall, one kid had a black-and-white TV with a hanger out the window," said Cook, who graduated in 1989. "I remember a bunch of us piling in to watch the season finale of Cheers." So when Cook, 31, returned to Penn in 1994 as the manager of the network, he knew that it was a "chance to really create something exciting." "And it was right up my alley," he said. PVN, the University's closed-circuit, cable-television network, is part of ResNet, the wiring project connecting all residences for video, voice and data communication. Most of the academic buildings on campus and University-owned Greek chapter houses are wired for the network. Everything related to programming, customer service, maintenance, communication, promotion of special events and satellite video conferencing is managed out of the PVN office, located on the first floor of Sansom West, formerly Graduate Tower B. As a communications major, Cook began his career after graduation with a position on the renowned Philadelphia-based public-radio program "Fresh Air with Terry Gross." However, the position was a low-paid summer internship, and in 1990, he was hired as a copy editor at PR Newswire, a service that electronically transmits press releases for companies and organizations. Then, in 1994, Penn lured him back. "The challenge was appealing to me, to create a service from a whole cloth and to work with a great bunch of people," Cook said. In this job, although there is "paper-pushing and an office feel," there is no typical day. Whether he's going out to a student's residence to fix a cable problem himself, or just working to accommodate students' cable needs, Cook is always busy. For College senior Ryan Rutledge, working under Cook has been his best job experience. The job offers "a lot of responsibility, which is rare for people our age," said Rutledge, who programs the movie schedule every week. "Chris is a fabulous person to work for. It's really [Cook's] leadership that's responsible for the improvement in the services in the last five years." During his tenure, Cook has added several new channels, developed a Web site and greatly expanded viewership. In addition, he is also constantly striving to obtain the latest video releases and, with the help of market-research data, show the movies students want. Engineering sophomore Robert Spier, who is manager of channel two -- the University's Video Bulletin Board -- agreed that Cook is a "wonderful guy to work with. He is a great boss, [and] not restrictive. He doesn't say, 'Do it this way.' " And just like all of the other functions of the PVN, Cook said he wishes "more people knew about [the Video Bulletin Board] and used it more?. It's continued to improve, like everything else, we hope." But there is no doubt that no matter how far the PVN has to go, it has still blossomed under Chris' direction into a necessity for the Penn television-viewing community. "When something happens at Penn, and there's an interest in televising to the rest of campus, our network has the inherent capability to make that happen," Cook said. He also expressed thanks for "customers who are motivated to let us know what they want, for without continual feedback, we wouldn't be successful."