Bibel TV is a German

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

TV channel. The station is on air on 1 October 2002 with a 24 hour program of Christian services and magazines. The station is rued by an ecomenic conglomerat of Christian organisations.

Owner

Bibel TV is owned and operated by a charitable non-profit foundation (''

Stiftung A Stiftung () (properly ''Stiftung'', pl. ''Stiftungen'') is an institution or foundation that, with the aid of a property, pursues a purpose determined by the founder. A ''Stiftung foundation'' exists to give effect to the stated, non-commercial ...

'') based in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Today, the station says it finances itself primarily from donations from its viewers. A group of 16 shareholders decide on the distribution of the funds. A good half of the shares are owned by the Norman Rentrop Foundation, named after the founder. The

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

and

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

churches each hold 12.75 percent through their own media companies. Smaller shareholders are the television arm of the association of

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Free churches (including

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

), the German Billy Graham Association, Campus Crusade for Christ in Germany and the German Bible Society (

Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft The Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft ("German Bible Society") is a religious foundation regulated by public law. It is involved in publishing and in spreading the message of the Bible. The Society publishes the Bible in the original languages and in ...

). The director of Bibel TV is Matthias Brender, following the retirement in February 2013 of the founding director, Henning Röhl.

History

According to their own history, Bible TV goes back to Bonn publisher Norman Rentrop. He claims to have found a Bible in a hotel room in Baden-Baden in 1990, which inspired him so much that he read it every day in the future. While watching a Hollywood film adaptation of the Gospel of Luke, he finally came up with the idea of founding a TV station that would spread the biblical message. In 2001 he launched the Bible TV channel and provided almost seven million euros in start-up funding. The channel went on air on October 1, 2002 under the direction of former MDR program director Henning Röhl.

Program

Bible TV's content is predominantly in the conservative Christian spectrum. In addition to talk shows, documentaries and church services, the program consists of Christian films and series, most of them third-party productions.

Critics

Critics complain that Bibel TV conveys a backwards image of women and families. In 2020, the church union filed a criminal complaint against the ''Bible TV'' managing director for preventing a works council election. Two employees who had campaigned for the establishment of a works council had previously been dismissed. Lawsuits filed by the two affected employees against their dismissals ended in settlements.

Distribution

Bibel TV is distributed via digital satellite ( Astra satellites), most digital cable providers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, a number of analogue cable systems and on terrestrial

DVB-T2 DVB-T2 is an abbreviation for "Digital Video Broadcasting – Second Generation Terrestrial"; it is the extension of the television standard DVB-T, issued by the consortium DVB, devised for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial telev ...

throughout Germany as well as on the web by continuous streaming on Bibel TV's website.

References

External links

Bibel TV website
* {{Television in Germany Television stations in Germany Evangelical television networks Television channels and stations established in 2002 2002 establishments in Germany Mass media in Hamburg