On October 1, 1961, the Christian Broadcasting Network, CBN, hit the airwaves of a small television station in Portsmouth, Virginia, WYAH-TV. Exactly 57 years later, the network celebrated the launch of the CBN News Channel. The new offering is the first 24-hour Christian news channel. Pat Robertson, the founder of CBN, along with his son Gordon Robertson, the CEO of the network, announced this exciting news on October 1, 2018.
During the initial debut, the CBN News Channel is available Over The Air, OTC, in 15 markets across the United States including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Detroit, Nashville, Tennessee, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Norfolk, Virginia, and Shreveport, Louisiana. People who don’t live in one of the 15 markets may view the ground-breaking channel via Over The Top distribution or stream it online. Additional stations are expected to be added in the imminent future. Rather than advertisements, the non-profit CBN News Channel will primarily depend upon donations from its viewers.
Commenting about the new channel, Pat Robertson said, “Viewers are hungry for news today and also to understand how current events, both here and abroad, affect them…With news bureaus and correspondents in dozens of countries and humanitarian aid efforts going on around the world, CBN News Channel is on the ground in the world’s hot zones and uniquely positioned to deliver important stories in emerging formats that will engage new audiences.”
Referring to the innovativeness of the new channel, Gordon Robertson remarked, “Consumers are changing the way they view television content. There is a shift away from cable television to other platforms, especially in Over The Air digital TV and streaming on mobile devices. As the first Christian news outlet in the space, CBN is again on the forefront of new technologies and reaching new audiences.”
Due to the partisan nature of most news programming, Christians, and others, have become increasingly skeptical of anything they see or hear on the air waves. Rob Allman, news director and vice president of CBN, said, “In this contentious news culture today, viewers are concerned not only about issues that are important to them, such as religious liberty, Supreme Court judges, Israel, and our government leaders, they are also increasingly concerned with how the news is being reported by major media outlets.”
“CBN News will cover major stories where faith is relevant,” Allman added. “We will expose our viewers to important stories they will not see in the major media, and our professional journalists will conduct respectful interviews with newsmakers on all sides of the political spectrum.”
From its Virginia Beach, Virginia headquarters, Washington D.C. bureau, and other locations, the CBN News Channel feature a combination of live and breaking news coverage. The news airs every morning through CBN Newswatch. News updates are provided each hour. Additional CBN original programming is also shown from bureaus all over the globe. Faith Nation is a daily political talk show hosted by John Jessup and Jenna Browder. It also features David Brody, CBN News’ chief political analyst, Ben Kennedy, White House correspondent, Abigail Robertson, Capital Hill correspondent, and Erik Rosales, national security correspondent.
Chris Mitchell hosts Jerusalem Dateline, which updates viewers on news from Jerusalem’s CBN bureau. For years, Pat Robertson has shared health tips on The 700 Club, which airs on the Freeform network. The new CBN News Channel lineup includes Healthy living, a health and lifestyle program that incorporates recent medical information to help people look and feel their very best. The show is hosted by Lori Johnson. Those who are addicted to pop culture news can tune in to the CBN News Channel’s Studio 5 hosted by Efrem Graham. On the Homefront is a show headlined by Erik Rosales. It is comprised of human interest stories and stories about faith. On the Homefront is centered around men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces.
Prayer Link is another show airing on the new CBN News Channel. Headlined by Charlene Aaron, the program focuses on what prayer is accomplishing in the lives of people today. Christian World News and Global Lane are two other shows viewers can watch on the new CBN News Channel. Besides airing on Freeform, daily broadcasts of The 700 Club and 700 Club Interactive will also air on the CBN News Channel.
~ 1776 Christian
