Germany’s Bibel TV aims
to be ‘Christian MTV’

HAMBURG, Germany — A 24-hour digital television channel designed to bring God’s Word directly into German-speaking households has got off to a good start, according to Norman Rentrop, the millionaire publisher who had the idea for the venture five years ago.

Bibel TV began broadcasting its mixture of music, Bible readings, documentaries, talk shows, quizzes, cartoons and films via the Astra satellite on October 1.

Positive

So far, around 80 per cent of viewers who have made contact have voiced very positive opinions, Mr Rentrop reports. One of the priorities of Henning Röhl, Executive Director of the not-for-profit Bibel TV foundation, and his team is to reach out to young people, many of whom have rejected mainstream churches but are still very interested in Christian music. He feels that Germany has a “strong religious atmosphere” and that Bibel TV should align itself with this trend, becoming “a Christian Viva or MTV.” For this reason, a large proportion of Bibel TV’s airtime will be devoted to music.

Ideal medium

The entire Bibel TV concept arose from Mr Rentrop’s belief that television is the ideal medium for disseminating God’s Word.

“We Germans spend some 20 per cent of our time on average in front of the television,” he says. He has been greatly influenced by the Bible since he began reading it in a hotel room five years ago, recognising that it offers “comfort and answers to problems,” and believes that a Christian channel will provide a valuable alternative to the “murder and mystery films” that dominate other channels.

The Bibel TV foundation’s 16 shareholders, which include the Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches and business, have invested around 12 million euros in the venture, and have raised sufficient funds to cover its operating costs for the first three years.

Mr Röhl is aiming for an audience of 100,000 households initially, but some 1.8 million German-speaking households already have a digital receiver and Mr Röhl anticipates that digital television will have completely replaced analogue systems by 2010.

Young the goal