Family Entertainment of Laguna Beach Buys Religious-TV Studio in Virginia

A Laguna Beach company bidding to acquire the assets of the bankrupt PTL television ministry and Christian theme park said Wednesday that it has bought the assets of a bankrupt religious-TV production studio in Virginia Beach, Va.

Family Entertainment America, whose stock began trading over the counter last month, said it has agreed to pay $1.3 million for the assets of the Rock Christian Network and its Star Video Image Productions, a cable TV production facility.

Family Entertainment, which also maintains offices in Charlotte, N.C., a few miles from PTL’s headquarters, was formed earlier this year by Laguna Beach developer A. David Hengstler. The company claims as its only significant asset a $5-million apartment complex donated by Hengstler.

Resumed Chairmanship

Hengstler resigned in May as chairman and president of Family Entertainment. But he remained a financial backer and agreed last week to resume the chairmanship, said Kerry Moody, the company’s vice president.

Other executives and board members include a former PTL vice president, David Hill, who is president of Family Entertainment’s communications division, and Newport Beach investor Joseph Rodriguez Jr., a business partner of Hengstler’s.

Moody said Wednesday from Virginia Beach that the company put up a cash down payment of just $50,000 to acquire the assets of Rock Christian Network, but has agreed to pay the remaining $1.25 million within 60 days.

He said Family Entertainment also remains confident that it can win the bidding and find the financing to take over an estimated $161 million in assets that belong to PTL, which stands for People That Love.

Moody said Family Entertainment “wants to develop into a major entertainment company, producing films, original television shows and records and running theme parks and convention centers.”

Hollywood Recording Studio

He said the company “is in negotiations” to acquire a recording studio in Hollywood, but declined to identify the studio.

In acquiring the Rock Christian Network assets, Moody said, Family Entertainment “basically got a production studio and equipment. We want to have a cable network, and if we don’t get PTL’s, we will build one of our own.”

He described Family Entertainment as a company that has no religious or political affiliation but “is family-oriented in a Judeo-Christian background. . . . We want to do news and sports and family-oriented situation comedies, where the guy and the girl don’t live together if they’re not married.”