Archive notice: This article was originally published on June 23, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
tru:TV primarily uses the internet. Its programming can be watched as a livestream on its website, and discussions can be held in forums and chats. The TV channel borrows from social networks by allowing visitors to its website to introduce themselves to others. The six-month-old channel does not yet publish viewing figures. “Traffic to the websites is rising, however,” managing director Bernd Merz told the newspaper Die Welt, expressing confidence in his strategy.
Young people on tru:TV are primarily offered music videos, in which preachers sometimes also appear. These videos are the main reason young people tune in to the satellite channel at all. tru:TV also broadcasts profiles of extreme athletes, pop stars and aid workers. The channel’s young, ten-person editorial team is headed by Bernd Merz, who spent years as the broadcasting representative of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) writing Wort zum Sonntag, the highest-rated church program on German television. His aim is to meet young people where they are in life and help them find their bearings in the world. He also addresses topics that are not always accepted by viewers. An online discussion initiated by the editorial team about the casting show Germany’s Next Top Model, for example, provoked fierce criticism that the channel was stooping too low.
tru:TV and Bibel.TV are operated by the nonprofit Bibel.TV GmbH, in which Norman Rentrop, the Bonn-based publishing entrepreneur, holds a 51 percent stake. The other shareholders are Protestant and Catholic media service providers, including the Association of Evangelical Free Churches (VEK). While Bibel.TV is financially self-supporting, funded 70 percent by donations and 30 percent by advertising, tru:TV is currently in a difficult position. “We will not receive donations to the same extent—and ringtone advertising is out of the question,” says Merz. Rentrop has provided the young channel with €4.5 million in start-up financing.
