The network carries campus devotionals and forums, LDS general conferences, Church Educational System firesides, select sessions from Education Week and Women's Conference and more.

"Through the blessings of BYU Television, people across the globe can sit at the feet of prophets and apostles," Samuelson said in a recent president's report on the LDS Foundation Web site. "They can study the Scriptures with Brigham Young University's professors of religion, celebrate the victories of our athletes, and revel in the sights and sounds of our magnificent performing groups."

The network also expands BYU's educational reach and serves as a missionary tool for the LDS Church, Samuelson said.

He promised to continue attempts to expand the network's reach and influence and improve content for its international audience.

Nearly 50 percent of alumni have BYU Television in their homes.

A new building would be home for all of the BYU Broadcasting partners, as well as BYU Radio.

The BYU Broadcasting studios and master control are now on campus in the Harris Fine Arts Center, or HFAC, while nearly all of the production personnel are located in the Ironton facility, Bell said.

The separate facilities create a number of inefficiencies.

"If we're doing a production in our studios, everyone in Ironton has to come up here to campus," he said. "The majority of our students work at Ironton, so they're 3 1/2 miles from campus.

"When we edit a program, the tape has to be sent up from Ironton to master control on campus. Sometimes there are last-minute changes and someone has to jump in the car and drive it to master control because it has to be on the air that night."

---

E-mail: twalch@desnews.com