Dr. Robert Schuller, former pastor of Crystal Cathedral Ministries, and Chris Wyatt, the founder of religious video site GodTube, have acquired baby boomer targeted cable network AmericanLife TV.
ComStar Media Fund, for which Wyatt currently serves as CEO, will purchase the cabler, which reaches nearly 13 million subscribers, for an undisclosed sum. The plan is to turn the network into a “family values” channel, though they claim it will not become a religious network per se. The on-air look will change, as will the syndicated programs the network seeks to acquire.
“We are not creating another religious network but rather a family-values channel,” Wyatt said. “We’ve tapped into a huge underserved market and have the opportunity over time to increase distribution to exceed 40 million homes. As the founder and former CEO of GodTube.com, one of the fastest growing website’s of 2007, I have experience to apply to achieve this type of growth in cable and satellite distribution.”
Schuller is no stranger to television, having hosted global religious program The Hour of Power for many years. He will host a show on the reworked network, though the details are still being worked out.
“Having been on television for 32 years, I’ve witnessed first-hand the decline of family-values programming in America,” Schuller said. “I’m looking forward to pioneering a new definition of ‘family-values’ programming that speaks to all generations. “
