What Should Christian TV Look Like?
There is alot of talk that the typical form of Christian TV will soon fall by the wayside. The talking head or televised Church service is not producing the same results as in years past. Ive sat in meetings with many well known ministries that are struggling financially because their TV programs are not effective and are not producing income like before. These ministries are having to make some fast changes or else face the possibility of not being able to pay their airtime bill (which many are already late on).
Producers, as myself, are trying new creative approaches to developing new show ideas to engage more people. In the normal world, a network or producer will pull the plug on a non revenue generating show. This does not happen in Christian TV but probably should. Why cant Christian TV have shows like the major networks? Good sitcoms, comedy, drama, good music, ect. Its time that Christian organizations start paying attention to their web and media presence. Its time to actually connect with people rather then yell at them! (No i’m not yelling) Its time for us to use our God given creativity and show the world what TV should look like.
If it were left up to you, what would a Christian TV show look like? Leave your thoughts.
No Pink Hair.
I would like to see more variety in a show. There seems to be a repeat of ideas that everyone copies. Something original would be nice. More music shows.
Check out my show, “Live It Live!” ( http://liveitlive.net ) We use to have it on a local Atlanta station, but money’s tight. We’d love to put it back on the air. Anybody know a sponsor?
Also, check out Art Within (http://artwithin.org). They’re trying to develop faith based writers.
Well said! I’ve wondered that for years – why does Christian media always follow trends of what sells in secular arena? Why not create new, dynamic, meaningful media that LEADS the trend? Whether it is music, tv, radio, internet… seems we are always following. We have The Creator as our inspiration, let’s start producing content that makes secular media take notice and mimic what we do!
Alfsauve: Have you tried distrubuting your program via the web? Vimeo, Facebook, YouTube, Your own site? If your not able to afford air time this is a great way to start. Kids spend a good deal of time in front of the computer. You can also sell your shows on DVD if you need to bring in income.
\\Christian TV doesn’t look like secular TV because there’s not enough high power Christian sponsors to fund the production effort. Most shows are the product of large churches or networks like TBN. The Christian audience can’t (won’t) and shouldn’t fund through donations and the mainline sponsors don’t think the target audience is viable. Most liberal special interest groups have no problem shelling out the bucks for what they believe and their moral standards allow them to buy the beer, cigarettes, flashy cars, etc. from secular sponsors. I am not implying that Christians buy a six pack but if we could somehow quantify our collective purchasing power it may attract better sponsors i.e. larger production budgets. There have been some good movies in recent past but again low budgets keep their production capabilities low.
end of rant//
That leads into a post I will putting up later this week on faith based tv shows selling ad time versus sponsorship. There is deff a long way to go to make it happen but i think its possible. When it comes to trying out a new format all it takes is time and creativity. Most pastors do not want to put the extra time in to preach in a different environment or to re shoot in shorter segments. Taking a risk and experiementing is ok and should be tried.