Media: Television Retreat

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The contemplative world of Christian Science hardly seems the appropriate setting for a bitter corporate battle. But growing turmoil over the financial future of the venerable Boston-based church has assumed on the attributes of a Wall Street takeover. An announcement last week that the church plans to cease operation of its ailing Monitor Channel cable network marked a grim defeat for forces within the church organization who have staunchly supported large-scale media expansion. Harvey W. Wood, chairman of the church and chief proponent of the $250 million TV enterprise, resigned last week as the church disclosed that it had borrowed $41.5 million from pension funds to shore up the 24-hour news and public affairs channel as well as the troubled daily, Christian Science Monitor. The church says the Monitor Channel -- which costs $4 million a month to run -- will shut down by June 15 unless a buyer is found, an outcome analysts consider unlikely.