The French Bishops’ Conference has asked those in charge of the transmission “Le Jour du Seigneur” (The Lord’s Day) to help the Catholic television network KTO, which is facing major financial difficulties. According to a communiqué of the French bishops, released by the Apic press agency, the bishops of the permanent Council have asked the executives of the two media to devise a structure that would guarantee better use of the 15 million euros donated by the faithful. KTO, founded in 1999, transmits via cable and satellite and relies on a budget of 6.5 million euros. It has tripled its audience (it now boasts of 517,000 spectators per day) and in spite of this the Superior Council of Audiovisuals has rejected its bid for analogical transmissions. The shareholders of KTO (including Lagardère, Vivendi, the archdiocese of Paris and the French bishops) have invested 22 million euros to finance the transmissions. The TV channel is hoping to re-balance its books in 2007, even though its losses could exceed the 22 million euros invested.
