Rev. Robert A. Schuller, former co-host of weekly religious program The Hour of Power, and Godtube.com founder Chris Wyatt said today their ComStar Media Fund has purchased AmericanLife TV Network with plans to make it “the destination for family values.”
Okay. Another specialty channel for boomers.
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Chris Wyatt was the founder of GodTube in 2007 which was billed as an alternative to YouTube. As with most YouTube knock offs, consumer interest dropped off quickly. Wired did a scathing article on the site.
In 2007 GodTube attracted about 2.7 million users at start up, and according to Quantcast GodTube traffic dropped to 690 thousand in January 2009.
GodTube was rebranded as Tangle in February and is funded by private investors. It now bills itself as a family friendly social networking site.
Wyatt was a former CBS producer and insists AmericanLife TV is not going to be doing another religious channel, but rather a family values channel. There was no mention of what the new owners are going to call their network.
Schuller is CEO and Wyatt is President of the network. They say they are putting their management team in place and plan to roll out a show for Schuller and new programming in the fall.
ComStar Media Fund press release
The purchase price wasn’t disclosed.
The cable network was started in 1985 and owned by The Unification Church (Moonies) and will be run out of Dallas. The purchase comes with a library of 700 hours of old shows such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show. It was originally called The Nostalgia Network and then GoodLife TV.
Schuller plans to do his own show, add some reality TV, game show and a morning show. The new owners say the  current network reaches about 12 million homes, they are looking at targeting  40 million viewers through cable and the internet. They have also said they will attract US celebrities to their planned programming.
The former TV preacher says his new show won’t be preachy.
“People don’t want to be told what to do, they want to be shown what to do. So the purpose of my show is to take preaching and make it more practical. Instead of telling people how to be more Christlike, show them how to be more Christlike.”
Nothing says in your face dad more than buying your own TV network when you are only the son of a religious media celebrity.
There is probably a regional niche for this venture and an audience for Rev. Schuller for a few years.
Viewers were really upset when he left The Hour of Power and news of the family feud leaked out.
A public falling out with father Robert H. Schuller and the family at the Orange County Crystal Cathedral last October was big news in the US. Robert A. Schuller left his dads show Hour of Power,  which is said to be the most watched church service in the world.
This ‘family values’ slogan has been around and overused at least since Pat Robertson financially cleaned up with IFE and The Family Channel in the 1990s. Robert A. Schuller has been on TV since the 1990s, has written several books and is involved in other business and religious interests. His father, Robert H. Schuller has also written several books and started broadcasting his church service in 1970.
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Concerning this article:
I would love to see someone come up with a Christian values kind of channel. Decent, clean and meaningful. Now days there is so much trash and stupid stuff on TV. We don’t have cable, because we don’t want to pay a lot of money to get 100 or more channels when we can only find 8 or 10 channels that are worth watching. We don’t like to have to wade through a lot of filth to get a good story. It would also be good to have a channel that is not all preaching and teaching minnistries too. But some Christian music, devotionals, sure, but also some good clean movies, and things like “Father Knows Best”, and Andy Griffith, but not all nostalgia was necessarily good either. Michael Landin Jr. has done some wonderful family movies. Wouldn’t it be great to watch a sitcom where the dad is respected?? Where there is love in the home?
They can be funny too. Well, anyway, thanks. ~B
The only prescription we’ve been given for the changing of hearts and the salvation of our nation is the preaching of the gospel and the call to repentance. I don’t believe it’s the job of any follower of Jesus Christ, especially a “minister”, to provide entertainment for believers or anybody else. Jesus did not commission the church to go forth and make good clean fun for all nations, baptizing them in cathode rays (or whatever they use these days). Of course the good reverend must be going to all this trouble out of the goodness of his heart, and the prospect of making $$$ has nothing to do with it. I’m only slightly curious to know where he got all those $$$ to start up this project, since I probably already know.
It’s very sad there are so few in the church who seem to know what the gospel is anymore to even be able to preach it. The call to return to our first love is a call to return to the pure revealed word of God which we loved first before we were seduced away to the more entertaining and flattering words of man – which in our day is already sown too abundantly through Christian TV and books.
I hope that with the purchase of Americanlife TV network Godtube will be including the shows, Flea Market Mania and Embassy Chefs, hosted by Christopher Kent or that the network will see the value of these shows and start off a new season. Best, and good luck, Christopher
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I just checked the weekly show schedule for Huntley Street and see that Robert Schuller was featured as a guest today (Monday, Nov. 1st /10) which reflects sadly on that broadcast in terms of discernment.
By the way, we are NOT here as Christians to be entertained with the likes of game and reality shows. We are here to serve the Lord which means turning off or drastically cutting down on the molten calf of tv and opening the pages of the Bible for study and reflection. The closer your walk with God, the less tv you should watch.
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My wife and I have been with Robert and Donna several times. Please let me know how I can listen to his service. I live i Seattle wsahington area. Owen Olsen
Hi Owen:
I don’t think Robert Schuller Jr. is preaching anymore, he runs a couple of cable tv networks, does cruises and Holy Land tours.
His wife has a blog – http://donnaschuller.blogspot.com/