Let digital TV help the Church convey its message

The market place is what drives the BBC, not its duties as a public service broadcaster

THE CHURCH of England is in my blood, yet I didn't find myself particularly sympathetic to the letter from the Bishop of St Albans, published on Saturday in The Independent. The Right Rev Christopher Herbert complained that on Christmas Day the British Broadcasting Corporation would carry no act of worship on either BBC1 or BBC2.

As a result, he argued, the house-bound, the elderly and the hospitalised will be "profoundly deprived". He added that so far as religious broadcasting is concerned, the corporation falls far short of its remit as a public service broadcaster. It is failing to ensure that the fundamental truths and beliefs of our country are explored, examined, criticised and celebrated. Why, the bishop asked, has the BBC neglected its duty as far as Christmas is concerned?

Let the bishop's question remain to be answered, even though the BBC's ignorance of the spiritual meaning of Christmas is not so sweeping as he appears to believe. On Christmas Eve, midnight Mass is being televised by BBC1; at 9am on Christmas morning, Radio 4 will carry an hour-long service from Liverpool Cathedral. A little later a programme entitled Celebrate Christmas, which is described as a broad-based, religious-oriented production, will be broadcast on television. I think there is a good chance, too, that if the Archbishop of Canterbury says anything at all interesting in his Christmas sermon, then the BBC's news bulletins will carry an account.

By way of preface, it is also worth considering a little more closely the circumstances of house-bound, elderly and hospitalised Christians wishing to participate in a Christmas service. As a matter of fact, hospitals generally have chaplains representing the major Christian denominations. They conduct regular services inside hospitals and visit patients too ill to attend. They are likely to make a particularly special effort at Christmas.

Churches, too, know which members of their flock are unable to leave their homes and would welcome their priest calling on them and perhaps saying a short service with them. Such people are "profoundly" disadvantaged only if the Church itself fails in its duty to parishioners who may be among "the maimed, and the halt, and the blind".

Bishops aren't the only people to feel deprived when they watch BBC television nowadays. I was sorry to see Panorama moved from 9.30pm to 10pm on Monday evenings. I am annoyed when a football match - at club level - is allowed to obliterate the nine o'clock news. I hardly ever find orchestral concerts on the box except, sparingly, when the Proms are under way. There is scarcely any opera or ballet. Sports-lovers, too, have much to complain about as the BBC loses the famous events to ITV or Sky. I enjoy Formula One motor racing - but not on BBC television any more. But I notice that Songs of Praise retains its position early on Sunday evenings. Last night on BBC1 at 5.40pm, it comprised Christmas gospel favourites.

What the Bishop and the rest of us have to accept is that because of the way in which the BBC is financed, it has a double duty. The licence fee payable by all is close to a power to tax. The BBC is thus driven to maximise audience share, particularly of television viewers, in order to justify this impost. And as competition has increased, first with the arrival of commercial television, then satellite, followed by cable, ratings have become more and more important. In consequence minority interests have been driven to the late hours (thus Midnight Mass or Panorama at 10pm), where they have to compete with popular films that are considered unsuitable for children to watch before the nine o'clock watershed.

No amount of lecturing about the BBC's public service duties will change the nature of the marketplace in which the corporation finds itself. It is not that it is unaware of its special remit; of course not. But its special obligations can only be discharged at the edges of mainstream broadcasting.

However, this situation will not last. We are living through a revolution in information delivery. The arrival of digital technology means that we shall shortly leave a world in which broadcasting frequencies are in short supply to one where they are plentiful. The multiplicity of satellite and cable channels is a foretaste of what is to come. Even now I can find all the opera and ballet I could possibly want on a specialist cable channel, though admittedly the productions are very old - but if it is Nureyev and if it is Callas, I don't mind very much. Formula One motor racing is on ITV, marred only by the advertisements. And Sky provides an excellent news bulletin on the hour, every hour.

In this changing world of increasing access to a variety of television services, there are big opportunities for religious groups. The Church of England should think of this: it can have its own channel. When we hear these words, we think of the American religious channels we may have seen, which are very far from what members of the Church of England would relish. But if the Church of England wants to have a television channel that it controls and runs, it can have one.

Already a number of religious channels that can be received by British viewers have been licensed, though I confess that I have never watched Christian Channel London, Christian Channel Shopping, the Christian Children's Channel, the Christian Music Television Channel or even The European Family Christian Network.

Given that the Bishop of St Albans believes that television can effectively carry the Christian message and supplement attendance at Church, and the reading, thinking and prayers which the devout do in the privacy of their own homes, then he can look forward to the day, not too far distant, when the Church of England can meet this need entirely on its own terms. To be sure, setting up a Church of England television channel would cost money, but so does every new initiative. It can be done. It is a matter of will.