Mission Broadcasting Inc, a company that owns 14 television stations in Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas will start airing the United Church of Christ television spot banned by CBS and NBC at no charge to the denomination.
"We're responding to the fact that the networks took what we think is a biased and unfair stance on the UCC commercial," Dennis Thatcher, Mission Broadcasting's Executive Vice President / Chief Operating Officer, said. "We looked at the commercial and didn't get the same take on it. We don't really see what they [NBC and CBS] see. We see it as a message to all people of faith, that we are all equal in God's eyes.
"Mission Broadcasting thinks that is an important message, especially around the holidays," he said.
Thatcher's stance, he said, is supported by the stations' owners, David Smith and his wife, Nancie. Smith, a former Cleveland broadcaster, is now a full-time minister at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Sharon Center, Ohio.
What an amazing gift. Mission Broadcasting is putting principle before profit and helping to ensure that Americans hear at least one positive message during this Advent. CBS and NBC could learn something from this.
Click here to read the full United Church News story.
The following is a list of Mission Broadcasting Inc. stations and their network affiliations:
WYOU CBS-22 in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pa; KOLR CBS-10 in Springfield, Mo.; KCIT Fox-14 and KCPN (LP) Ind-33 in Amarillo, Texas; KJTL Fox-18 and KJBO (LP) UPN-35 in Wichita Falls, Texas; KODE ABC-12 in Joplin, Mo.; WBAK Fox-38 in Terre Haute, Ind.; KAMC ABC-28 in Lubbock, Texas; KRBC NBC-9 in Abilene, Texas; WUTR ABC-20 in Utica, New York; KSAN NBC-3 (a satellite of KRBC) in San Angelo, Texas; and WTVO ABC-17 and WTVODT UPN in Rockford, Ill.
