wfn.org | Methodists to Launch Weekly Cable Television News Show

[PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org]

04-November-1996 
 
 
96432 Methodists to Launch Weekly Cable Television News Show 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
NASHVILLE, Tenn.--A weekly cable television show that will offer viewers a 
religious perspective on the news has been approved by United Methodist 
Communications (UMCom). 
 
     "News Odyssey" will be a 30-minute show and will air on the Odyssey 
Channel (formerly Faith & Values Network) beginning in 1997. 
 
     According to Wil Bane, UMCom's director of public media, the program 
will not explicitly promote the United Methodist Church.  Rather, he said, 
it will seek to serve the larger religious community by showing how 
religion affects and is affected by newsworthy issues. 
 
     "Religion is an important part of the fabric of life and is often 
newsworthy," Bane told the United Methodist News Service, "but is treated 
as something disconnected from the mainstream of life." He said the show 
will not promote a particular theological viewpoint, "but will challenge 
viewers to explore their own life values in relation to their life 
actions." 
 
     According to Bane, the annual cost to produce the series will be more 
than $1.7 million. UMCom has budgeted $1.4 million to pay for nine months 
of production and broadcasting in 1997.  A Foundation for United Methodist 
Communications has been established to help raise the remaining support 
needed to keep the show on the air. 
 
     The Odyssey Network is currently distributed to 30 million households 
and has a goal of being available in all cable homes within four years.  A 
total of 65 million homes are currently wired for cable. 
 
(Information for this story furnished by Linda Green, United Methodist News 
Service) 

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For more information contact Presbyterian News Service
  phone 502-569-5504             fax 502-569-8073  
  E-mail PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org   Web page: http://www.pcusa.org 

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