How do these "religious" stations serve the public interest?

[toby]

How do these stations (think TBN) that broadcast "Satan's infomercials" aka "pay for pray" aka "bunko scam" serve the public interest?

On cable I can understand, but not on broadcast TV where they are a waste of valuable spectrum.
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[Markxxx]

> How do these stations (think TBN) that broadcast "Satan's
> infomercials" aka "pay for pray" aka "bunko scam" serve the
> public interest?
>
> On cable I can understand, but not on broadcast TV where
> they are a waste of valuable spectrum.
>
This is no answer but they are better than the (almost)27/7/365 informercial stations.

I think the serving the public interest requirement is interpeted as so broad that most stations qualify

Basically the FCC says as long as you meet it's MINIMUM requirements you are serving the public interest. Some of these minimums were made quite a long time back when some stations signed on at 3pm and off at 10pm. So the FCC set the requirements low.

Most TV stations serve their requirment to serve the local area simply by broadcasting 1/2 hour of news daily.

Educational requirments are also minimal

From the FCC Website
We consider programming to be educational and informational if it in any respect furthers the educational and informational needs of children 16 years old and under (this includes their intellectual/cognitive or social/emotional needs).

See how BROADLY that can be interpeted. Even if is serves an EMOTIONAL need you have met the educational requirement.

A TV stations basically has it's license renewed automatically UNLESS someone can show WHY it SHOULD NOT be renewed. This is a lot of power, since once you get the license it is up to others to prove you shouldn't have it.

Click here ---> <a target="_blank" href=http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/decdoc/public_and_broadcasting.html#ACT> For link to FCC website for more info</a>

 

[clichemoth]

> > How do these stations (think TBN) that broadcast "Satan's
> > infomercials" aka "pay for pray" aka "bunko scam" serve
> the
> > public interest?
> >
> > On cable I can understand, but not on broadcast TV where
> > they are a waste of valuable spectrum.

They're only on broadcast TV anyway because must-carry is cheaper than paying for cable coverage.

> >
> This is no answer but they are better than the
> (almost)27/7/365 informercial stations.
>
> I think the serving the public interest requirement is
> interpeted as so broad that most stations qualify
>
> Basically the FCC says as long as you meet it's MINIMUM
> requirements you are serving the public interest. Some of
> these minimums were made quite a long time back when some
> stations signed on at 3pm and off at 10pm. So the FCC set
> the requirements low.
>
> Most TV stations serve their requirment to serve the local
> area simply by broadcasting 1/2 hour of news daily.

Do any TBN or Daystar affiliates have any sort of local news department at all? I'm not even sure if my local TBN (WTJP-60 in the Birmingham market) carries any locally geared programming whatsoever, although there is a minister from this area on the national schedule. They at least used to rebroadcast interviews with Etowah/Calhoun County officials that previously aired on WJXS-CA, as did "i" (WPXH-44), but I haven't seen that stuff on either station in a long time.


>
> Educational requirments are also minimal
>
> From the FCC Website
> We consider programming to be educational and informational
> if it in any respect furthers the educational and
> informational needs of children 16 years old and under (this
> includes their intellectual/cognitive or social/emotional
> needs).
>
> See how BROADLY that can be interpeted. Even if is serves an
> EMOTIONAL need you have met the educational requirement.

That's probably TBN's strongest point. Their children's programs are generally gentle, positive, and entertaining in an old-school local host kind of way. The excesses of their ideology and such usually don't appear on them. And they show basically twice as much qualified E/I programming as any other station without trying to shoehorn ultra-dodgy stuff like Moesha reruns or Miracle Pets in as E/I.

>
> A TV stations basically has it's license renewed
> automatically UNLESS someone can show WHY it SHOULD NOT be
> renewed. This is a lot of power, since once you get the
> license it is up to others to prove you shouldn't have it.
>
> Click here ---> For link to FCC website for more info
>


I think taking on Paxson license renewals would be an easier task than going after the religious broadcasters. The person who did so probably wouldn't be portrayed as some sort of demonic Communist conspirator all over the media, at least.

What gets me is that there are 2 major religious networks and countless smaller ones which all share essentially the same exact point of view and air the same programs. Aside from EWTN's OTA presence in a few markets, it's all dominionist charismatism with the occasional dollop of more mainstream theology. If Syndex applied to Godmercials, smaller networks and indies would be up the creek without a paddle.

 

[HomerJay]

> How do these stations (think TBN) that broadcast "Satan's
> infomercials" aka "pay for pray" aka "bunko scam" serve the
> public interest?
>
> On cable I can understand, but not on broadcast TV where
> they are a waste of valuable spectrum.
>
So by your definition, only stations that serve YOUR interest serve the public interest? You're free to dislike religious broadcasts--I certainly do--but for a segment of the population, it does much more to serve their interests than traditional commercial broadcasters.

 

[mjlarochelle]

> So by your definition, only stations that serve YOUR
> interest serve the public interest? You're free to dislike
> religious broadcasts--I certainly do--but for a segment of
> the population, it does much more to serve their interests
> than traditional commercial broadcasters.
-----------
I have no problem with the existence of these stations, but there is no need for "Satan's Infomercials". No Christian faith that I know of requires payments of oxen, gold, or (in the modern sense) pure money in order for prayers to be heard. That kind of thing shouldn't be permitted by the FCC. It is just a cash grab that offers viewers nothing in return.

 

[dhett]

> I have no problem with the existence of these stations, but
> there is no need for "Satan's Infomercials". No Christian
> faith that I know of requires payments of oxen, gold, or (in
> the modern sense) pure money in order for prayers to be
> heard. That kind of thing shouldn't be permitted by the
> FCC. It is just a cash grab that offers viewers nothing in
> return.
>

If that happened, you'd probably lose a lot of PBS stations as well. They rival Christian stations in the begging department any day of the week, and that's after their CPB and other taxpayer funding.

 

[dhett]

> How do these stations (think TBN) that broadcast "Satan's
> infomercials" aka "pay for pray" aka "bunko scam" serve the
> public interest?
>
> On cable I can understand, but not on broadcast TV where
> they are a waste of valuable spectrum.
>

I would imagine that TBN serves a much broader public interest than UPN or WB.

 

[rugrats1]

> If Syndex applied to Godmercials,
> smaller networks and indies would be up the creek without a
> paddle.
>
Of course, I shudder to think of the same when it comes to regular infomercials, since they and most religious programming are one of the same, except that one has a religious slant.

 

[toby]

> > How do these stations (think TBN) that broadcast "Satan's
> > infomercials" aka "pay for pray" aka "bunko scam" serve
> the
> > public interest?
> >
> > On cable I can understand, but not on broadcast TV where
> > they are a waste of valuable spectrum.
> >
> So by your definition, only stations that serve YOUR
> interest serve the public interest?

No. An all secular infomercial channel does not serve the public interest.

> You're free to dislike religious broadcasts--I
> certainly do--but for a segment of
> the population, it does much more to serve their interests
> than traditional commercial broadcasters.

However, most of the programming seems to be non-local in nature, so how does that meet the public intrest for a partiular community?<P ID="signature">______________
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<a href=http://chuck.spotteddogs.org/tv/>Spotted Dog TV Talk - for all your non-news TV Talk</a></P>

 

[Tom_Desmond]

> I would imagine that TBN serves a much broader public
> interest than UPN or WB.

Probably not. The audience for these TBN stations is very, very small...even when compared against UPN and the WB.

That said, the folks who do watch TBN obviously feel that the service is important enough to warrant their donations, so it must be a very loyal audience. And TBN does manage to meet the FCC's public service requirements, offering a block of educational kids shows, as well as some (nationally produced) news and current affairs programming. In this regard, they probably are similar to the majority of UPN and WB affiliates, which generally carry nothing that is locally produced (most don't even carry local news) and instead meet the public service requirements using nationally syndicated programming.

While TBN's programming definitely does not appeal to me, in the aggregate they probably do about as good of a job of providing public service programming as most small market Fox, WB, and UPN affiliates. And a better job than "i" (the former PAX) does -- at least the "educational childrens" programs on TBN are actually designed for an audience of kids, unlike the crap that got tagged "e/i" on Pax/i.

 

[dave73]

> > If Syndex applied to Godmercials,
> > smaller networks and indies would be up the creek without
> a
> > paddle.
> >
> Of course, I shudder to think of the same when it comes to
> regular infomercials, since they and most religious
> programming are one of the same, except that one has a
> religious slant.
>
Ch 62 in the Chicago south suburbs (WJYS. licensed to Hammond Indiana) airs mosly infomercials, but do air some religious programming in the early morning hours, and occasionally some other programming, but much of the air day is infomercials. A translator on ch 68 in the Chicago market is run by TBN. I believe it's a rebroadcast of the cable channel. In NW Indiana, LeSea Broadcasting has the World Harvest Network and rebroadcasts that on 2 translators they have in the area, ch 18 in Gary Indiana and 24 in Valparaiso Indiana. The translator on 18 goes out a lot because it gets lots of interference from the 18 in Milwaukee, since the antenna is not too far from Lake Michigan.

 

[clichemoth]

> > I have no problem with the existence of these stations,
> but
> > there is no need for "Satan's Infomercials". No Christian
>
> > faith that I know of requires payments of oxen, gold, or
> (in
> > the modern sense) pure money in order for prayers to be
> > heard. That kind of thing shouldn't be permitted by the
> > FCC. It is just a cash grab that offers viewers nothing
> in
> > return.
> >
>
> If that happened, you'd probably lose a lot of PBS stations
> as well. They rival Christian stations in the begging
> department any day of the week, and that's after their CPB
> and other taxpayer funding.
>

The difference is that PBS doesn't promise to cure cancer and cast out demons. Nobody's giving up on medical science because their totebag and boxed set of "Sounds of the 60s" just got there.

 

[clichemoth]

> > If Syndex applied to Godmercials,
> > smaller networks and indies would be up the creek without
> a
> > paddle.
> >
> Of course, I shudder to think of the same when it comes to
> regular infomercials, since they and most religious
> programming are one of the same, except that one has a
> religious slant.
>
Why shudder? Wouldn't it be great to not see the same infomercial/Godmercial on 6 stations daily? Someone should bring this idea to Congress' attention.

 

[rugrats1]

> ...at least the "educational childrens"
> programs on TBN are actually designed for an audience of
> kids, unlike the crap that got tagged "e/i" on Pax/i.
>
Though Pax doesn't even do THAT right -- I came across one of their "E/I" shows one evening while on a business trip recently, and they tag such shows as "TV E/I", in the upper left corner. In other words, they're treating it as a TV rating than a mere mandatory supplement.

 

[tjthedj]

Why not put your money where your big mouth is and try it. TBN Mother Angelica and others are all legal.

TBN and those others mebtioned below are here because of "FREEDOM OF SPEECH."

Maybe I like religious programs. Why not write the fcc to take off the crap, the trash, the filth the HORRIBLE excuse for music on places like MTV - and ban the jukebox music tv stations that are around.

 

[gr8oldies]

Most of the programming on ALL TV stations is non-local, save for local news. We don't have the Des Moines version of the Tonight Show. An all-infomercial channel. If they're selling something, some audience is being served.

 

[HomerJay]

> > > How do these stations (think TBN) that broadcast
> "Satan's
> > > infomercials" aka "pay for pray" aka "bunko scam" serve
> > the
> > > public interest?
> > >
> > > On cable I can understand, but not on broadcast TV where
>
> > > they are a waste of valuable spectrum.
> > >
> > So by your definition, only stations that serve YOUR
> > interest serve the public interest?
>
> No. An all secular infomercial channel does not serve the
> public interest.
>
> > You're free to dislike religious broadcasts--I
> > certainly do--but for a segment of
> > the population, it does much more to serve their interests
>
> > than traditional commercial broadcasters.
>
> However, most of the programming seems to be non-local in
> nature, so how does that meet the public intrest for a
> partiular community?
>
And that's unique to religious broadcasters? Syndicated shows, no matter how mass-appeal it may be, is non-local. It serves the interest of the community because people want to see it, the same way that religious shows do.

 

[HomerJay]

> > So by your definition, only stations that serve YOUR
> > interest serve the public interest? You're free to
> dislike
> > religious broadcasts--I certainly do--but for a segment of
>
> > the population, it does much more to serve their interests
>
> > than traditional commercial broadcasters.
> -----------
> I have no problem with the existence of these stations, but
> there is no need for "Satan's Infomercials". No Christian
> faith that I know of requires payments of oxen, gold, or (in
> the modern sense) pure money in order for prayers to be
> heard. That kind of thing shouldn't be permitted by the
> FCC. It is just a cash grab that offers viewers nothing in
> return.
>
Sure there's something in return: the show's costs are paid for. It's no different from an offering in a bricks and mortar church---where there can be scams there, there can be scams on TV. Some bad apples does not mean all are crooks.

 

[dhett]

> The difference is that PBS doesn't promise to cure cancer
> and cast out demons. Nobody's giving up on medical science
> because their totebag and boxed set of "Sounds of the 60s"
> just got there.
>

I think you know better than that.

No Christian TV show promises to cure cancer or cast out demons because if they're truly Christian, they know it's not in their power to do so. They promise to pray for people, which is completely separate from their appeals for money. No one is denied prayer if they don't donate, and if you have proof otherwise, I suggest you contact the FCC, because that ministry is using the airwaves to commit fraud.

 

[e-dawg]

KNMT has local programming.

Portland's TBN station, KNMT has local programming called, Northwest Praise the Lord, its like a national vesion of Praise the Lord, but its gear toward local churches around the Portland area.
>
> Do any TBN or Daystar affiliates have any sort of local news
> department at all? I'm not even sure if my local TBN
> (WTJP-60 in the Birmingham market) carries any locally
> geared programming whatsoever, although there is a minister
> from this area on the national schedule. They at least used
> to rebroadcast interviews with Etowah/Calhoun County
> officials that previously aired on WJXS-CA, as did "i"
> (WPXH-44), but I haven't seen that stuff on either station
> in a long time.
>