African Christian TV-- Coming your way?

(from Thomas Johnson)

One cultural experience I have every time I go to my Nigerien wife’s family home, such as when we celebrate Christmas there, is to watch African Christian television on free-to-air satellite (Do you remember those big 5+ ft diameter parabolas that existed before DishTV?). Perhaps one home in 20 has such a system as they cost around $300 (not including the television) and permit a viewer to access dozens of satellites orbiting over the Middle East, Southern Europe and Africa.

There’s one particular satellite positioned over Africa that carries 50 (YES 5-0!) separate full-time Christian stations.  These programs originate from African countries such as Congo, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia, as well as from Brazil, South Korea, the U.K. and the U.S.A.  In some cases, the whole station is owned and operated by an African mega-church (such as you can find in Lagos or Kinshasa). While the majority of the shows are in English, you can also find French and Portuguese programs, with some subtitling shows in a second language to broaden further their potential audience.  These stations have names such as “Love World”, “Emmanuel”, “Chosen”, “Dove”, “3 Angels”, “Hosanna” and “Olive”, among other faith-inspired monikers. 

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