Murdoch, Religious B'casters Battle DBS Deal

[John Corn]

I think Al Sharpton put Rupert up to this. :D
Some are charging that Thursday's scheduled protest against EchoStar Communications Corp.’s planned merger with DirecTV Inc. is being orchestrated by News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch.

As six religious programmers prepare Thursday to present to the Department of Justice some 400,000 petitions against EchoStar Communications Corp.’s planned merger with DirecTV Inc., other religious broadcasters are charging that Louis Sheldon, president of the Traditional Values Coalition, is orchestrating that protest to help News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch block the merger.

Click here for the rest of the story (http://www.tvinsite.com/index.asp?layout=story&doc_id=92320&vertical=TVinsite&industry=u&display=breakingNews)

[SParker]

and their info was totally out of date and down right false on a lot of the issues. Even TBN distanced itself from these folks when it came down to the merger.

[BrettR]

Although TBN doesnt directly say they are for merger or against, I think they are for, so The Church Channel reaches all Dish customers. Do these Christian channels "compete" with each other?

I think ministries like having access to national and local channels and if Dish wants to only carry the national Christian feeds, certain ministries get less exposure. Now if Dish committed to carrying more national Christian channels, then it maybe a different story.

[cnsf]

Are there any other religious channels out there? Seems very Chrisitian-centric.