EWTN
The Eternal Word Television Network, more commonly known by its initials EWTN, is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic-themed programming. It is not only the largest Catholic television network in America,[1] but reportedly "the world's largest religious media network",[2] (and according to the network itself) reaching 425 million people in 160 countries,[2] with 11 networks. It was founded by Mother Angelica PCPA, in 1980[3] and began broadcasting on August 15, 1981, from a garage studio at the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Irondale, Alabama, which Mother Angelica founded in 1962.[4] She hosted her own show, Mother Angelica Live, until health issues led to her retirement in September 2001.[5] As of 2017, Michael P. Warsaw, who is a consultant to the Vatican's Dicastery for Communications, leads EWTN.[6]
This article is about the television network. For its sister radio network, see WEWN.Country
In addition to its television network, EWTN owns the National Catholic Register newspaper, which it acquired in January 2011, and Catholic News Agency.[7] The network maintains an online presence through its primary site, EWTN.com, and it has a dedicated commercial site, EWTNReligiousCatalogue.com.[8] EWTN also has a 24-hour radio network, offering Catholic talk and worship programming to about 350 radio stations around the U.S. as well as SiriusXM Satellite Radio and shortwave radio.[9][10] Some of the schedule is the audio from EWTN television shows and some is original programming for radio listeners.
Regular network programs include a daily Holy Mass and sometimes Tridentine Mass format, the traditional Stations of the Cross, a taped daily recitation of the Rosary, and daily and weekly news, discussion, and Catechetical programs for both adults and children. Christmas and Easter programming; the installation Masses of bishops and cardinals; coverage of World Youth Days; and papal visits, deaths, funerals, conclaves, and elections are also presented. Spanish language broadcasts are available on all platforms.[11] On December 8, 2009, EWTN began broadcasting high-definition television.[12]
The network is overseen by trustees rather than shareholders or owners. All of the network's funding comes from viewer donations, protecting it from advertising secular or non-Catholic programming.[13]
Development
Mother Angelica made her profession of vows in 1953. In 1962 she established Our Lady of the Angels monastery. During the 1970s, she was an in-demand lecturer and produced pamphlets and audio and video tapes. She had been a guest on local station WBMG (currently WIAT, Channel 42), and on shows on the Christian Broadcasting Network and the Trinity Broadcasting Network. After she gave an interview on then-Christian station WCFC (Channel 38) in Chicago, she decided she wanted her own network. "I walked in, and it was just a little studio, and I remember standing in the doorway and thinking, 'It doesn't take much to reach the masses'. I just stood there and said to the Lord, 'Lord, I've got to have one of these'".[14]
Mother Angelica purchased satellite space and EWTN began broadcasting on August 15, 1981, with four hours of daily programming, which included her own show, Mother Angelica Live (aired bi-weekly), a Sunday Mass, and reruns of older Catholic programs such as Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen's Life Is Worth Living. The remainder of the time was filled with shows produced by dioceses across the country, shows from Protestant sources which Mother Angelica determined were in concert with Catholic teachings, and children's shows such as Joy Junction and The Sunshine Factory. About one-third of programming time consisted of secular content, such as re-runs of The Bill Cosby Show, public domain films, and cooking and western-themed shows. EWTN eventually increased its broadcast schedule to six hours per day and then to eight hours per day by 1986. Secular content was gradually reduced from 1986 to 1988, and satellite distribution was expanded late in 1987, after which EWTN acquired a far more desirable satellite channel and began broadcasting around the clock. At this point, EWTN began broadcasting the praying of the rosary on a daily basis and added a number of educational shows. In-house production of original programming gradually increased. The Mass became televised daily in 1991 from a chapel on the monastery grounds. Most shows from non-Catholic sources were eliminated and a more theological image gradually developed.
From 1982 to 1994, the network had competition from another Catholic broadcaster, the Catholic Telecommunications Network of America. The network was sponsored by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops which poured $30 million into the venture before it failed.[15]
In 2000, "in the midst of an apostolic visitation by San Juan Archbishop Roberto González Nieves" to investigate Mother Angelica's authority over the station and monastery, Mother Angelica gave control of EWTN to a board of lay people.[2]
As of 2011, the network's chairman of the board and chief executive officer is Michael P. Warsaw.[16]
As of 2019, EWTN programming was available through "more than 6,000 TV affiliates as well as on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire and YouTube". In addition to its Irondale campus, the network maintains a Washington, D.C., facility for its news division, along with a West Coast broadcast facility on the campus of the Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.
Finance
While the network has trustees, it does not have shareholders or owners. A majority of the network's funding is from viewer donations about which it advertises 100% viewer supported, which keeps it from advertising secular or non-Catholic programming. Its traditional plea for donations is "Keep us between your gas and electric bill".[13][24][note 1] Mother Angelica developed the fund raising slogan for viewers, "Please keep us between your gas and electric bill!"[24]
Viewership
EWTN is the largest religious media network in the world, and it says it has a reach of a quarter-billion people in 140 countries. The network is unrated in the United States, though various articles cite millions of viewers watch per month. On YouTube and other social media platforms, EWTN has more than 1,000,000 active followers and online viewers. EWTN is also available on demand on streaming services Roku, Kindle, and Apple TV. EWTN's Internet site is viewed three to four million times monthly, according to SimilarWeb. In the United States, EWTN is available through most cable and satellite providers with a reach of around 70 million households.[44] EWTN had an annual revenue of $64,946,744 in 2019, and has received an 84.3 (out of 100) overall score and rating from Charity Navigator.[45]
Branding
EWTN's logo has incorporated a globe outline in some form since the network's launch in 1981 to suggest the network's hope of a worldwide reach, usually with an outline of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica within a profile of a satellite dish inside of it. The network had the sub-branding of the "Catholic Cable Network" until 1995, when with the launch of DirecTV and Dish direct satellite broadcasters (where it was a charter network with both providers) it took a new sub-branding of "International Catholic Network", then "Global Catholic Network" in 1996 after uploading its signal for worldwide viewing.
Media related to Eternal Word Television Network at Wikimedia Commons