World News
TV station's growth helps church get message into more 'hearts, homes'
Published: October 15, 2010
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (CNS) -- The unprecedented expansion of a local diocesan television station into 5 million homes in three states will build a bridge for Catholic leaders to get their message into the homes and hearts of viewers, according to Msgr. James Vlaun. The priest is president of Telecare Television, the broadcast ministry of the Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York. Telecare, which began in 1969 as a closed-circuit education tool for children in parochial schools on Long Island, now broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is available to Cablevision subscribers in 22 dioceses in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and Verizon FIOS customers on Long Island. Joseph Perrone, the station's general manager, told Catholic News Service that Telecare is the largest Catholic television production facility in the United States. It produces 85 percent of its own programming, including 24 original series. Msgr. Vlaun announced Telecare's expansion from Long Island into Cablevision's entire tri-state footprint Oct. 15. "This is a 24-hour, 365-day gift we've received from Cablevision," he said. When Telecare was first given a station on Cablevision's basic lineup in the 1980s, he said, it was "a revolutionary thing in Catholic broadcasting. We were the first religious group in New York to get a station. "We have maintained a wonderful relationship with Cablevision," Msgr. Vlaun said, adding that the expansion is a recognition of the quality of Telecare's programming. "We've gone way beyond talking heads."
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