In 2013, Argentina’s Supreme Court upheld as constitutional a 2009 piece of legislation designed to boost media diversity. Aiming to allow any segment of society access to the medium, the controversial law bans TV networks from amassing more than 35% of the nation’s viewers and provides for the distribution of broadcast licenses to private, state and nonprofit organizations in equal measure.

In theory, the law gives an educational body, such as a university the same ability to create and broadcast a channel as, say, an outfit such as Grupo Clarin, which is Argentina’s biggest media conglomerate. But even so, “it is highly unusual” for an Argentine college to do such a thing, said Tamar Colodenco and Gonzalo Arias, writing to Brief in tandem from Buenos Aires. Colodenco is the production manager of UN3, a new TV channel created by the University of Tres de Febrero (UNTREF), and Arias is the channel’s CEO.

“Even though our legislation encourages universities to develop their own channels,” they continued, “only a few were able to make it. And only UN3 was able to co-produce more than 47 original series for its first year.”

Those nearly 50 series tend to be “short, entertaining and fresh,” the duo said, aiming “to create new and original ways to communicate with students and young people in general.”

Originally the idea of Anibal Jozami and Martín Kaufmann – the dean and vice dean of UNTREF, respectively – UN3 was conceived following a period of experimentation in transmedia technologies via the school’s electronic arts, audio engineering and other graduate and undergraduate programs. It became clear that an entire multi-platform channel could serve that output more comprehensively, and provide a home to independent content producers.

With the decision made, an “incredible journey” ensued, said Colodenco and Arias, as UNTREF brought them and the rest of their team onboard to build a TV network from scratch.

“It took a lot of effort and, mainly, extremely long meetings to discuss every aspect of the project. We had a lot of support from the University and we came up with a working structure that allowed us to focus on the creative and programming aspects.”

Said structure involves letting external companies handle the production of most of UN3’s series, with guidance and creative supervision from the network regarding content and format. Geared heavily toward the Internet, mobile devices and social networks, the programming is generally “more suitable for the web than for traditional TV,” said Colodenco and Arias.

All UN3’s content is available for free through its VOD platform and through a mobile app designed by UNTREF. The programming is almost refreshingly weird, yet also entertaining, tailor-made for online consumption, and for going viral. The animated series “Bar San Miguel,” for instance, offers, as the title suggests, scenes from a bar that clock in each at one minute in length, while “The Carets” features the heads of celebrities such as Steve Jobs and Robert DeNiro superimposed over regular actors’ bodies in surreal 10-minute vignettes about boxing, heaven and other oddities.

“We expect every series in our programming schedule to be innovative and experimental,” said Colodenco and Arias, an outlook that is reflected in UN3’s branding done in partnership with the design studio Vascolo. The channel’s look and feel centers around its logo, an incomplete and unfilled circle, which “has the potential to be filled with anything or anyone who wants to be part of UN3,” said Colodenco and Arias. “It is an invitation to join us with your own point of view, you own interests and habits.”

Loud and filled with vibrant colors, UN3’s on-air graphics stand out from Argentina’s other channels. Traditional TV elements such as color bars and “no signal” messages are a starting point for many bumpers, before they get broken up and shifted around to produce something that honors the past while also feeling entirely new.

“Our claim is ‘Tu mirada no esta sola’ (‘Your point of view is not alone’),” said Colodenco and Arias. “We mean to say that this is the place for the strange, for the bizarre, the unique and the independent. If you feel you do not identify with traditional TV, we believe you will feel pretty comfortable with UN3.”

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