Rev. Schuller to Be Seen on European TV

The Rev. Robert H. Schuller’s “Hour of Power” television ministry will soon be broadcast to cable TV subscribers in 21 European nations over a satellite that belongs to media magnate Rupert Murdoch, a Schuller aide said Sunday.

Murdoch will broadcast the weekly program, which is taped at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, to cable TV networks over his London-based Sky Channel at no cost to Schuller, said Warren Duffy, Schuller’s top aide.

‘He Opened the Door’

“He just wanted to have one hour of religious programming on his Sky Channel,” Duffy said. “He opened the door by making this offer to us.”

Murdoch and Schuller met several months ago, and Murdoch attended services at the Crystal Cathedral one Sunday, Duffy said.

“He said we’d hear from him,” he said.

The program will be picked up by more than 5,700 cable networks--with a potential total audience of 36.8 million people--in virtually every major Western European country except Italy. “Hour of Power” will also reach viewers in Poland, Hungary and Yugoslavia, Duffy said.

In a prepared statement read by Duffy, Schuller said: “This is the first time in the history of religious communication that a worldwide platform has been given to a spokesman of the Christian religion. . . . No congregation has been picked to be the one church service to be seen in so many cities and so many countries.”

Suffered Financially

The “Hour of Power” ministry is among the top-rated U.S. religious broadcasts, but it has suffered financially the past year, a circumstance that Schuller has attributed to “shock waves” following television-evangelist controversies involving figures such as Jim and Tammy Bakker, Oral Roberts and Jimmy Swaggart.

The broadcast operation’s budget was $34 million in 1987, but it was cut to $26 million in 1988 because of fund-raising difficulties.

But while Murdoch’s offer will enable Schuller to expand the reach of his ministry, it will not allow him to ask for financial help. One of the conditions of the deal is that the 5-minute plea for donations normally included in each “Hour of Power” be excised from the program when it is broadcast in Europe, Duffy said.

No Solicitation

“Under the regulations of the United Kingdom, donations of money cannot be solicited through such programs,” Duffy said. “Normally, we ask viewers to write in and support the ministry. But since this is free, we don’t have to do that.”

The program will be broadcast in English, Duffy said.

“We have no idea what level of support there is there,” he said. “But Schuller’s way of presenting the gospel is so unique. This will be the first time they have heard the good news proclaimed in such a way. . . . They are very traditional over there. This will be something refreshing and compelling to all of Europe.”