Church on the rise: Cablecom with two new Christian channels

The church is going on the TV offensive: Cablecom has launched two new Christian channels. According to the Sonntag newspaper, the German Bibel-TV and the Austrian K-TV have been part of the program since 17 March. They are part of the basic digital service, so subscribers do not have to pay extra. However, religion and sect expert Georg Schmid does not expect the two new 24-hour channels to appeal to a mass audience. Like "Fenster zum Sonntag", he places Bibel-TV in the free-church spectrum. According to Schmid, around 200,000 people in Switzerland belong to a free church or sympathize with such an organization. K-TV comes from the conservative wing of the Catholic Church. The potential target audience could therefore be half a million people. However, it will be difficult for both channels to attract additional viewers.
Religious TV offerings are generally becoming more diverse, Schmid told Sonntag. Television is playing an increasingly important role for the churches. Church services broadcast on TV are particularly popular. There is also growing interest in the Swiss format "Fenster zum Sonntag", which is broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays on SF2. When it was launched in 1995, it attracted an average of 30,000 viewers per weekend. Today, the annual average is 70,000 to 80,000.