K-TV (Kephas TV) is a private Catholic television station founded in 1999 by Pastor Hans Buschor. The non-profit Kephas Foundation gGmbH in Offenbach has been responsible for this since 2011.
The managing and sole proprietor of the foundation are Patrick Gruhn. The transmitter can be received via satellite or cable with a digital receiver or via the Internet. Today, the broadcasting area extends across the entire German-speaking area and Switzerland as well as all of Europe.
K-TV originated from an initiative of the pastor Hans Buschor, was founded in 1999 and was managed by Buschor until his death in 2017. Pastor Thomas Maria Rimmel, military pastor Werner Maria Hess and pastor Paul Schuler took over. The K in the name K-TV stands for the name of the apostle Peter as Kefa or Kephas (Aramaic). The purpose of the station is the media proclamation of the Catholic faith, strengthening of faith and the new evangelization.
The first broadcast on September 11, 1999, was via the Eutelsat satellite system. Sometime later, K-TV was also available via cable networks in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Since November 1, 2002, the reception has been possible digitally via the Astra satellite system and since October 2006 via the Internet.
The station has been offering Teletext since the end of October 2005. In 2006, a broadcast van was expanded for regular live broadcasts of services from churches and pilgrimage sites. The program has also been offered as a live stream since September 1, 2006. Since the start of the IPTV offering, also via T-Home and since April 2007 using the Internet streaming box.
In 2013 around 35 permanent employees worked at the station. In addition to a steady expansion of the program, according to the broadcaster, growth in the number of viewers can be seen, which is derived from the increasing number of program booklets sent. According to the broadcaster, the financial expenditure amounts to around 250,000 euros per month, which, according to its own information, is fully covered by donations. The in-house editorial team was dissolved in January 2015 as a result of an economic and strategic realignment of the broadcaster, which in the future wants to source content from outside.
K-TV broadcasts 24 hours a day. The individual programs are repeated at different times for a week. At night, repetitions from the program of the previous week are shown.