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86-639: In 1992, VISN began sharing channel space with a similarly formatted cable network, the American Christian Television System , with the two being co-branded under the name VISN-ACTS . The unified channel later evolved into the Faith & Values Channel and Odyssey , before eventually relaunching (with minimal religious content) as the Hallmark Channel in 2001 following its purchase by Crown Media Holdings . Throughout

172-721: A Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopter to the humanitarian organization. In May 2009, the United Nations officially recommended the Smile of a Child Foundation to receive special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council for the Democracy Coalition Project. Trinity Music City is an entertainment complex in Hendersonville, Tennessee ; near Nashville , operated by TBN and serving as

258-514: A 24-hour schedule in 1978. The fledgling network was so weak in its first days, that, according to Crouch in his autobiography, Hello World! , it almost went bankrupt after just two days on the air. TBN began national distribution through cable television providers in 1978. The ministry, which became known as the Trinity Broadcasting Network, gained national distribution via communications satellite in 1982. The network

344-592: A 49% ownership stake in the channel, and began to rebuild its programming with a focus on family-oriented entertainment, eliminating all preaching programs. VISN had long been pressured by the competition created by other religious networks in cable markets. Longtime rivals included the Trinity Broadcasting Network , the Eternal Word Television Network and FamilyNet . In 1995, the Trinity Broadcasting Network called

430-511: A Child TV in the U.S.). One notable film was Mel Gibson 's The Passion of the Christ , which had its television premiere on TBN on April 17 , 2011. TBN presented the film with much of the graphic violence included (due to its depiction of the events leading to and including the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as illustrated in Biblical teachings); as a result, TBN assigned a " TV-MA-V " rating for

516-790: A broadcasting group headed by George Cooney, the CEO of EUE/Screen Gems . Another 151 translators were donated to the Minority Media and Television Council (MMTC), an organization designed to preserve equal opportunity and civil rights in the media; MMTC would later sell 78 of these translators to Luken Communications , parent company of the Retro Television Network . Four more translators in Dothan, Alabama ; Kirksville, Missouri ; Jonesboro, Arkansas ; and Jackson, Tennessee , were sold by MMTC to New Moon Communications, with

602-402: A combination of low-power and full-power broadcast television stations , most of which were to be built, and carriage on cable television providers. Religious denominations had long been recipients of free air time from broadcast stations. This was often because stations had a need to fulfill " public interest " obligations in order to maintain their licenses . It was estimated that by

688-410: A combination thereof, and are commonly targeted at youth audiences – airing on Saturday nights as part of the network's "preview" block of JUCE TV programs and intermittently on Monday through Fridays during the late-afternoon and overnight hours. Films produced by or for TBN have included The Revolutionary and The Revolutionary II (based on the life of Jesus ); The Emissary (a film on the life of

774-526: A combined market reach of 39% of the United States), or are allocated for educational use and require additional programming to comply with that license purpose. TBN's programming is available by default via a national feed distributed to cable and satellite providers in markets without a local TBN station (this contrasts with the major commercial networks, which under FCC regulations, allow providers to import an owned-and-operated or affiliate station from

860-423: A diverse group of ministries from Evangelical , traditional Protestant and Catholic denominations, non-profit charities, Messianic Jewish and other Christian media personalities. TBN also offers a wide range of original programming, faith-based films, and political opinion commentary from various distributors. TBN owns and operates six broadcast networks, each reaching separate demographics. In addition to

946-924: A family audience. Support was withdrawn in 2003, and the ACTS network ceased operations. Trinity Broadcasting Network The Trinity Broadcasting Network ( TBN ; legally Trinity Broadcasting of Texas, Inc. ) is an international Christian -based broadcast television network and the world's largest religious television network. TBN was headquartered in Costa Mesa, California , until March 3, 2017, when it sold its highly visible office park, Trinity Christian City. The broadcaster retained its studios in nearby Tustin . Auxiliary studio facilities are located in Irving , Hendersonville , Gadsden , Decatur , Miami and Orlando , Tulsa and New York City . TBN has characterized itself as broadcasting programs hosted by

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1032-730: A full range of Christian denominations from Episcopalians to Latter Day Saints , to non-Christian groups such as Buddhists and Muslims . In late 1992, VISN merged with the American Christian Television System , a network owned by the Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission . Both networks would share the same satellite transponder (and effectively, channel space), but the two networks would remain independently owned, run their own programming and maintain separate on-air identities. The ACTS network brought in 8.2 million subscribers, increasing VISN's total national coverage to about 20 million households. The combined network

1118-587: A full-time satellite of TBN (the network was previously available in the Jackson area on WJKO-LP , which was later sold to Daystar). On July 8, 2013, TBN announced an affiliation with the Lethbridge , Alberta, Canada religious station Miracle Channel ; as part of the agreement, Miracle Channel added some of TBN's flagship programs, including Praise The Lord and Behind The Scenes , while TBN picked up programs shown on Miracle Channel, including services from

1204-547: A group of evangelical multidenominational investors as a for-profit entity, which the network had also now become. It was hoped that the multidenominational composition would attract large cable companies , some of which had shied away from carrying the network citing concerns about the SBC's singular control over content. To some extent, this meant that conservative faith traditions such as Lutherans , Presbyterians and Methodists , as well as Catholics and Jews were represented in

1290-512: A large audience for their message... I feel that they have taken a step backwards in their effort to accomplish their mission." This was made even more problematic by the fact that local Baptist-owned resources including churches and schools were sometimes providing the downlink to local cable systems. Also, partially because the Baptist Press had been prohibited from reporting on the matter, those local affiliates were not informed about

1376-497: A long-term contract with the network. In 2007, a subsidiary of Faith & Values Media acquired the ecumenical internet discussion forum Ecunet. American Christian Television System The American Christian Television System ( ACTS ) was an American religious television network that was founded by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Plans for the network involved a distribution reach through

1462-626: A nearby market if no local over-the-air affiliate exists). Worldwide, TBN's channels are broadcast on 70 satellites and over 18,000 television and cable affiliates. The TBN networks are also streamed live on the internet globally; the network also provides select archived shows on demand , through the website and select IPTV services. During 2010, citing economic problems and a lack of donations, TBN closed down and sold many of its low-powered television repeaters. Of those, 17 were sold to another Christian television network, Daystar . On April 13, 2012, TBN sold 36 of its translators to Regal Media,

1548-439: A new program, The Hal Lindsey Report , premiered on the network. In June 2011, TBN refused to rebroadcast an episode of Jack Van Impe 's weekly program Jack Van Impe Presents , in which the evangelist criticized pastors Rick Warren and Robert Schuller for participating in interfaith conferences alongside Muslim leaders. Both Warren and Schuller denied the accusations. Paul Crouch defended TBN's decision, stating that it

1634-667: A rapid expansion in the number of cable channels vying for limited space on cable systems; this included a number of religious channels. Channels of this type which had already been established at the time that ACTS was formed included the National Christian Network , the PTL Satellite Network , the Christian Broadcasting Network , and the Trinity Broadcasting Network . By 1984, even more networks had been formed, including

1720-524: A restructuring of the organization. Internal SBC documentation admitted that the planning had been overly optimistic, and the operational and programming expenses were beyond what could be sustained. The SBC sold ACTS in 1988 to a newly formed company called Friends of ACTS, Inc., based in San Antonio , Texas . While the SBC retained ultimate control over the channel, the new arrangement offered several advantages. Friends of ACTS, Inc. had been formed by

1806-417: A single broadcast signal and the lack of a modern multiplexer at the transmitter level, disallowing TBN's master control from sending the main feed in high definition or widescreen standard definition (this is in comparison to Ion Media Networks, which carries five to six multiplex services on most of its stations – including its flagship network Ion Television , which is transmitted in high-definition);

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1892-416: Is a 501(c)(3) non-profit company. Full disclosure of TBN's financial statements have been evaluated by Charity Navigator , the largest evaluator of charities and non-profit companies in the U.S. TBN has received a three out of four star rating for four consecutive years, and in 2009 earned a rating of two out of four stars due to a 2% increase in administrative costs in 2009; the report also revealed that for

1978-611: Is a lightning rod for the Body of Christ. It's not what drives TBN." Under leadership of Matt Crouch, TBN no longer adheres to or practices that theology, and programming changes such as removing Kenneth Copeland reflect that shift. TBN has always broadcast programming featuring Protestant pastors who do not promote the prosperity gospel, such as Charles Stanley , Jack Graham , Franklin Graham , Billy Graham , Michael Youssef , David Jeremiah and Robert Jeffress . Senator Chuck Grassley ,

2064-711: Is obvious they were completely embedded." When ABC News contacted the U.S. Army in Afghanistan about Scott and Decker's alleged embed, which had taken place four years previously, they said that they no longer had the documentation of the missionaries' status with the troops. Scott defended the trip to Afghanistan, telling ABC, "It wasn't like we were hiding in the back saying we're going to preach. [The military] knew what we were doing. We told them that we were born again Christians, we're here doing ministry, we shoot for this TV station and we want to embed and see what it

2150-440: Is pending; no official judicial ruling has been made in this matter. In a May 2012 interview with The New York Times , Koper claimed, "My job as finance director was to find ways to label extravagant personal spending as ministry expenses." Koper alleged that the network had herself and chauffeurs and sound engineers ordained as ministers in order to avoid paying Social Security taxes on their salaries. In September 2004,

2236-505: The Orange County Register reported that Carra Crouch, a granddaughter of Paul and Jan Crouch, alleged in a lawsuit that she had been raped by a TBN employee when she was 13 years old. Carra claimed to have been sexually abused while staying at an Atlanta hotel during TBN's "Spring Praise-a-Thon" in 2006. She also claimed that Jan Crouch and TBN attorney John Casoria blamed her for the incident, yet agreed not to turn

2322-513: The Baptist Telecommunications Network (BTN). BTN was oriented toward churches, while the programming of ACTS was aimed at the general public. The programming mix of ACTS was planned to consist of about 75% family-oriented entertainment programs and 25% direct teaching and preaching. Daily programming was to be recycled in loops, up to 16 hours each day of its program content would consist of reruns. The 1980s saw

2408-403: The Eternal Word Television Network and National Jewish Television ; each of these competed for limited headend space on cable providers, a situation made more complicated by the fact that some companies would only carry one religious network. By 1986, the network had achieved a potential viewer reach of 2.6 million television households. It had also acquired $ 8.5 million in debt, leading to

2494-708: The FCC's Children's Television Act . Programs previously featured as part of the lineup, which are also broadcast on TBN's Smile network, ranged from contemporary programs (such as 3-2-1 Penguins! ), classic series (such as Davey and Goliath ), and TBN originals (such as iShine Knect and Mary Rice Hopkins & Puppets with a Heart ). Since 2009, TBN has broadcast feature-length religious- and/or inspirational-themed films; these films air primarily on weekend evenings (with films based on biblical stories most commonly airing on Sundays), with more contemporary films – which often incorporate moral lessons, faith-based lessons or

2580-572: The Faith & Values Channel and Odyssey , before eventually relaunching (with minimal religious content) as the Hallmark Channel in 2001 following its purchase by Crown Media Holdings . ACTS ceased operations in 2003. ACTS was initially organized in December 1980, and was formed as a subsidiary of the Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission (RTVC) and the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board. ACTS

2666-587: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s must-carry rules. TBN's availability eventually expanded to 95% of American households by early 2005. TBN owns 35 full-power television stations serving larger metropolitan areas in the United States; at its peak, the network also owned 252 low-power television stations , which are mixed among stations serving medium-sized cities and rural translator stations in order to maximize

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2752-514: The Los Angeles Times reported that Paul Crouch had paid former TBN employee Enoch Lonnie Ford a $ 425,000 formal settlement to end a wrongful termination lawsuit in 1998. Ford alleged that he and Crouch had a homosexual tryst during his employment with the ministry. TBN officials acknowledged the settlement but contested Ford's credibility, noting that he had previously been convicted for child molestation and drug abuse. In 1996, Ford

2838-531: The independent station KBSA (now UniMás owned-and-operated station KFTR-DT ) in Ontario, California . After that station was sold, he began buying two hours a day of programming time on KLXA-TV in Fontana, California , in early 1974. That station was put up for sale shortly afterward. Paul Crouch then placed a bid to buy the station for $ 1 million and raised $ 100,000 for a down payment . After many struggles,

2924-452: The 1980s. Startup costs for VISN were covered by several cable providers; spearheaded by Tele-Communications Inc. , early financial backers of the channel included American Television & Communications , United Cable , Jones Intercable , Post-Newsweek Cable and Heritage Communications. The network was owned by the NICC and Liberty Media , a subsidiary of Tele-Communications Inc. Although

3010-530: The Crouches managed to raise the down payment and took over the station outright, with the station becoming KTBN-TV in 1977 and its city of license being reassigned to TBN's original homebase, Santa Ana , in 1983. Initially, the station ran Christian programs for about six hours a day, expanding its programming to 12 hours a day by 1975, and began selling time to other Christian organizations to supplement its local programming. The station eventually instituted

3096-600: The Faith and Values Channel "a failed experiment in religious programming", stating that its overarching approach to faiths and entertainment programming hurt its efforts at attracting viewers. By 1996, the channel's programming was such that it was said to eschew its own religious label. Citing poor growth, the channel was relaunched as the Odyssey Network in August 1996 and given the slogan "Exploring Life's Journey". At

3182-471: The Lord , was regularly hosted by TBN founders Paul and Jan Crouch, and was originally two or three hours long. Until 2017, local versions of Praise the Lord were produced by TBN owned-and-operated stations and affiliates in order to fulfill public affairs content guidelines. TBN runs VeggieTales under the "Smile" banner on Saturdays 8–10 a.m Eastern Time to fulfill E/I programming requirements as per

3268-733: The NBC affiliation instead, via a subchannel. KJNE-LP ended up becoming a translator station of Fox affiliate KJNB-LD . Another 44 of the licenses that were donated by TBN to the MMTC would be canceled on December 1, 2011, due to remaining silent for over a year. On October 22, 2012, TBN acquired WRBJ-TV in Jackson, Mississippi from Roberts Broadcasting . Following FCC and bankruptcy court approval on January 17, 2013, TBN officially took over operational control of WRBJ on May 24, 2013, dropping all secular and CW network programming and converting it into

3354-637: The Springs Church (of which Miracle Channel CEO Leon Fontaine is a pastor), and The Leon Show on The Church Channel . Plans were also announced for Fontaine to become a regular host on Praise the Lord and four episodes per-year to originate from Canada, and for Miracle Channel and TBN co-produce a new weekly program. In December 2023, TBN announced a distribution partnership with Phil McGraw 's new venture Merit Street Media . The signals of TBN's television stations are multiplexed into digital subchannels , which carry additional networks operated by

3440-540: The apostle Paul ); The Omega Code and its sequel Megiddo: The Omega Code 2 ; Carman: The Champion ; Time Changer ; and Six: The Mark Unleashed (starring Stephen Baldwin and David A.R. White ). Some of these films were produced by Gener8Xion Entertainment , TBN's Hollywood, California -based Christian motion picture studio, which was co-founded by Matt and Laurie Crouch. TBN also broadcasts films from other production companies on its main network and some of its sister networks (in particular, JUCE TV and Smile of

3526-545: The bible-themed adventure park Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida , for $ 37 million. Trinity Broadcasting Network had previously come under heavy criticism for its promotion of the prosperity gospel , teaching viewers that they will receive a reward if they donate or give offerings. In a 2004 interview with the Los Angeles Times , Paul Crouch, Jr. expressed his disappointment that "the prosperity gospel

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3612-593: The chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Finance , has conducted investigations into whether Joyce Meyer and Benny Hinn mishandled their finances; neither were found to have committed wrongdoing. Scholar Steve Snow states that TBN "regularly promotes the teachings of the [ New Apostolic Reformation ]", which he argues "represents what Richard Hofstadter referred to as the modern paranoid style in American politics ". TBN

3698-467: The channel was available to 30 million cable and satellite subscribers throughout the United States. The Southern Baptist Convention pulled ACTS out of the network in 2003 and withdrew from the NICC. Faith & Values Media, a production company owned by the NICC, continues to produce content both for television and the internet. The corporation retains about 5% of the Hallmark Channel and has

3784-423: The country as of 2010, besting the station groups of CBS , Fox and NBC , but behind Ion Media Networks and Univision Communications . Many of TBN's stations are owned by the ministry outright, while others are owned through the subsidiary Community Educational Television , in order to own stations that TBN cannot acquire directly due to FCC ownership limits (which restrict companies from owning stations with

3870-494: The crowding of local cable networks by combining their programming onto one channel. This goal was enumerated by Robert Thomson of founding company Tele-Communications Inc., who stated that "no operator has the capacity for a separate channel for each denomination." The Vision Interfaith Satellite Network launched on July 1, 1988. At its launch, the NICC was represented by 23 faith groups covering all branches of Christianity. In addition, certain existing channels were represented with

3956-528: The daughter of Paul Crouch Jr.), filed a lawsuit against her former attorneys, Davert & Loe. The three counts of the complaint were for breach of fiduciary duties, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and professional negligence. In this lawsuit, Koper alleged that TBN unlawfully distributed over $ 50 million to the ministry's directors. Koper filed the suit following the termination of her employment with TBN. Davert & Loe, who also represented TBN, denied her claims. Koper's suit against Davert & Loe

4042-461: The deal until after it was signed. Still others expressed concern that the goal of VISN had been to replace and supplant ACTS. VISN-ACTS went through several relaunches in the 1990s including its 1992 revamp as the Faith and Values Channel and the 1996 format change into the Odyssey Network , with direct religious content erosion occurring along the way. In 2001, it became the Hallmark Channel , focusing mainly on entertainment programming aimed at

4128-505: The document for $ 10 million. In October 2004, Judge Robert J. O'Neill awarded Crouch $ 136,000 in legal fees to be paid by Ford for his violation of the terms of the settlement agreement, specifically the prohibition of discussing the details of the settlement. On March 15, 2005, Ford appeared on the PAX TV reality series Lie Detector to be given a polygraph test ; the results of the test were never broadcast or made public. In June 2012,

4214-520: The end of the SBC's direct ventures in television. In July 1992, ACTS entered into a merger agreement with the Vision Interfaith Satellite Network (VISN). Each network was to provide part of the programming, but maintain separate branding identities during their allocated timeslots. The Southern Baptist Church would provide eight hours of programming daily for the network, which would produce substantial savings. At

4300-515: The film – a rarity for many Christian networks. On December 15, 2009, the Trinity Broadcasting Network became the first Christian television network to broadcast completely in high definition . However, until 2018 only the national cable-satellite feed was transmitted in HD; TBN's owned-and-operated broadcast stations were not equipped to allow HD broadcasts due partly to the bandwidth limitations caused by its mandatory carriage of five subchannels over

4386-645: The fired employee in to authorities if he did not file for unemployment , worker's comp or EEOC benefits. TBN attorney Colby May "vehemently denied" Carra's claims. In 2017, a year after Jan Crouch's death, a jury awarded Carra $ 2 million in damages for "mental suffering", but found that Jan had not been acting as a "Trinity Clergy Member" and therefore wasn't legally required to report the assault. Bible prophecy scholar Hal Lindsey 's program International Intelligence Briefing , which occasionally aired commentary segments criticizing Muslims and Islam , aired on TBN from 1994 to 2005. In December 2005, TBN pre-empted

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4472-461: The fiscal year ending December 2009, TBN president Paul Crouch, Sr. earned $ 419,500; co-vice president Jan Crouch earned $ 361,000; and co-vice president Paul Crouch, Jr. earned $ 214,137. TBN is currently under Donor Advisory status with Charity Navigator. Another charity watchdog group, Ministry Watch , gave TBN an "F" in 2011 for its failure to provide financial statements, lack of timeliness in responding to correspondence, and its lack of clarity in

4558-476: The inaugural members of the NICC, among them, the Gospel Music Network . The group hoped to have a potential audience reach of 35 to 40 million subscribers by the network's fifth year of operation. VISN reached 6.4 million cable television subscribers by 1990. The network continued to expand rapidly, reaching 12.8 million subscribers by 1992. By that year, VISN represented 54 faith groups including

4644-719: The intent to convert them into NBC affiliates. However, in September 2012, New Moon put all four of these translators for sale. Only Gray Television would purchase a transmitter in Dothan, which was converted into NBC affiliate WRGX-LD ; the licenses in Ottumwa (KUMK-LP) and Jackson (WZMC-LP) would later be canceled (the NBC affiliate in Jackson, WNBJ-LD , operates using a different license). Its Jonesboro transmitter, KJNE-LP remained silent but with an active license; however, that market's ABC affiliate KAIT ended up obtaining

4730-658: The island country, having established a children's hospital, an orphanage and a school in Haiti. TBN spent millions in donations and other funding on these humanitarian projects. Following the January 12, 2010, Haiti earthquake , TBN made immediate contributions of $ 100,000 through Lake Charles, Louisiana -based Friend Ships, which speeds emergency relief aid and medical expertise all over the world in its fleet of dedicated cargo/ministry ships. Friend Ships has been partnering with TBN and Smile since 1992; Paul Crouch personally donated

4816-661: The latter portion of the 1990s, the channel hosted a continuously diminishing roster of religious programming. VISN was founded in late 1987 by the National Interfaith Cable Coalition (NICC). The NICC was an interfaith foundation created to provide programming and guidance to VISN. Many of the initial members of the NICC were also members of the National Council of Churches , whose membership had experienced trouble keeping airtime for local religious programming following media deregulation in

4902-658: The main TBN network, TBN owns TBN Inspire , Smile , Enlace , TBN Salsa and Positiv . It also owns several other religious networks outside the United States, including international versions of its five U.S. networks. Matt Crouch is currently TBN's president and head of operations. The Trinity Broadcasting Network was co-founded as the Trinity Broadcasting Systems in 1973 by Paul Crouch , an Assemblies of God minister, and his spouse Jan Crouch . TBN began its broadcasting activities by renting time on

4988-563: The merger. Some were disturbed by the composition and programming of VISN. Whereas ACTS had specific content guidelines based on the views of the SBC, VISN did not rely on any form of creed or universal statement of faith. VISN was represented by member organizations of 54 faiths including non-Christians, ranging from Muslim groups to Buddhists , to others that some conservative Baptists considered cultish . One former producer for ACTS expressed that "ACTS will be working with those many would consider to be false prophets , assisting to build

5074-535: The mid-1970s, the Southern Baptist Convention received approximately $ 10 million in donations annually in the form of 2,500 free weekly broadcasts. The programming that religious networks produced included (in addition to services and teaching) family-oriented entertainment programs and occasionally cartoons, such as JOT . ACTS would expand on these, originally intending on drawing its programming almost exclusively from in-house sources. ACTS

5160-480: The network airs local religious programming on each of their feeds. The network's flagship program Praise is hosted by various regular and guest hosts, including TBN president Matt Crouch and his wife Laurie Crouch. It features interviews with celebrities, ministers, and laypeople discussing faith-based topics and their personal relationship with God; as well as musical performances from gospel and contemporary Christian artists. The program originated as Praise

5246-401: The network was advertiser-supported, it disallowed on-air solicitation during its programming. In part, the network was created as a response to the televangelist scandals of Oral Roberts , Jim Bakker and Bakker's PTL Satellite Network , and the general popularity of conservative religious television such as the Christian Broadcasting Network . Another goal of the network was to help ease

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5332-530: The network was estimated to have a reach of 9.2 million viewers, and distribution on 475 affiliate stations and cable systems. That year, Jack B. Johnson was elected president of the RTVC, replacing Jimmy R. Allen. ACTS acquired FamilyNet from Jerry Falwell in 1991. The network was programmed separately from ACTS, and was carried exclusively on broadcast stations. FamilyNet was sold off to In Touch Ministries (operated by Dr. Charles Stanley ) in 2007, representing

5418-503: The network's mailing list as of June 2018). At some point in 2018, some TBN over-the-air stations upgraded their primary feed and second subchannel to 720p HD, where available and/or technically possible. The Smile of a Child Foundation is a compassion-focused ministry, founded in 2005 by TBN co-founder Jan Crouch initially as a vehicle to reach the children of Haiti , providing food, medical care, toys and disaster relief to people in need. Crouch has over 20 years of personal involvement with

5504-452: The network's programming. Under the terms of the agreement, the SBC would continue to provide the majority of the programming and receive a small portion of revenues from the network. The sale was valued at about $ 170 million. At that time, the network was reported to have an audience reach of six million viewers. The new management immediately switched satellites to Galaxy III, a move intended to increase ACTS' viewing potential. By 1990,

5590-404: The network's reach as much as is permissible. TBN also has several hundred affiliate stations throughout the United States, although just 61 of these are full-power UHF or VHF stations; the rest are low-powered stations, requiring a viewer to be within several miles of the transmitter to receive the signal. According to TVNewsCheck , TBN was the third largest over-the-air television station group in

5676-456: The number of cable providers carrying the channel increased from 655 to 1,374. The new network would continue to ban activities such as proselytizing, on-air fundraising, and maligning other faiths. Now they are content to be a small part of a national religious access channel, squeezing their programming... between religious programming that may espouse teachings that Christians see as heretical . Even so, some Baptists expressed concerns about

5762-441: The organization. These subchannels typically include: TBN produces a variety of original Christian programs, such as gospel music concerts, live coverage of major Christian events, talk shows , health/fitness/nutrition programs with Christian family doctors, children's programs, contemporary Christian music videos , marriage enrichment series, holiday specials, Christian dramas, and full-length, family-oriented movies. In addition,

5848-431: The primary TBN network feed is transmitted in standard-definition by its owned-and-operated stations and affiliates. Thus, widescreen programming on TBN's broadcast services was offered over-the-air in a letterboxed 4:3 picture format, though it is offered in native formats on pay television and IPTV services (including TBN's mobile and digital media player apps, the latter requiring email authentication and an opt-in to

5934-697: The program attracted criticism from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), a watchdog group that looks for religious discrimination in the United States military , which claimed that Scott and Decker were embedded with U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan . According to MRFF president Mikey Weinstein, the military exercises a "complete prohibition of the proselytizing of any religion, faith, or practice...You see [Scott and Decker] wearing American helmets. It

6020-564: The program for the entire month. Lindsey accused the network of censorship , saying, "some at the network apparently feel that my message is too pro- Israel and too anti-Muslim." Paul Crouch issued a press release stating that the show was only pre-empted for Christmas programming, but eventually admitted that TBN management was concerned that Lindsey "placed Arabs in a negative light." Lindsey resigned from TBN on January 1, 2006, effectively canceling International Intelligence Briefing . However, one year later, Crouch and Lindsey reconciled and

6106-750: The provided information. As a result, TBN was placed on the group's alert list annually since 2009. TBN's annual financial information is monitored by the Chronicle of Philanthropy , where it is ranked 243 out of the top 400 non-profit corporations in the United States. TBN is not a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability . In 2011, Paul Crouch, Jr. resigned from his position as co-vice president on TBN. On November 10 of that year, Crouch, Jr. joined The Word Network as its Director of Project Development. In February 2012, Brittany Koper , TBN's former Director of Finance (and

6192-402: The situation, striking deals with The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment in 1998. Odyssey's 1999 relaunch refocused the network's programming to include more family and values-oriented entertainment programming and even less direct religious content. Odyssey was relaunched as the Hallmark Channel on August 5, 2001, featuring substantially reduced religious content. By this point,

6278-426: The studios for TBN's Nashville-area station, WPGD-TV . Formerly known as "Twitty City", the former estate of country music legend Conway Twitty , the complex includes the 2,000-seat Trinity Music City Church Auditorium, which is used for TBN-produced concerts, dramas, seminars and special events. A 50-seat virtual reality theater showcases four original productions from TBN Films. Trinity Christian City International

6364-538: The time of its launch, the network would consist of 23 broadcast television stations and distribution on 200 cable systems. The Spacenet One satellite was selected for distribution of the signal; it launched in the spring of 1984. The American Christian Television System launched on May 15, 1984, and was dedicated in June at the Southern Baptist Convention. By that time, the network had been granted 75 LPTV station licenses. At launch, ACTS consisted of two channels, ACTS and

6450-476: The time of the merger, ACTS had a viewer reach of 8.2 million television homes and VISN 12.8 million; the combined network would reach about 20 million and allow a potential audience of 57.5 million households with at least one television set. The merger opened up large markets that ACTS had been unable to get a foothold into including New York City , Los Angeles , San Francisco and Salt Lake City . The new deal would add over 1,000 cities to ACTS' audience, and

6536-507: The time of the relaunch, the channel's subscriber reach potential had increased to 25.6 million households, and the NICC espoused representatives from 65 faith groups. The network continued to have problems throughout the late 1990s. External competition from Pax TV and CBS , the need for internal harmony, and general funding issues kept the channel from acquiring the rights to high quality programs such as Touched by an Angel and Nothing Sacred . The channel sought new partners to rectify

6622-417: The ways and means of accelerating a more direct primetime witness through television." The plan for establishing the network revolved around building 100 or more low power (LPTV) and a small number of full-power stations throughout the United States. Each low-power station was to cost up to $ 150,000 to build and have a broadcast range of 10 to 15 miles from each station's transmitter site. In addition, it

6708-447: Was a complex in Costa Mesa, California , which served as the headquarters for TBN as well as a tourist attraction. On March 3, 2017, it was announced by The Christian media network that Trinity Christian City International had been sold to Greenlaw Partners, because TBN now finds its campus "obsolete". A sales price was not disclosed. On April 12, 2017, it was revealed that the sales price was $ 18.25 million. In June 2007, TBN purchased

6794-558: Was a member of the National Religious Broadcasters association until 1990. In 1977, the ministry purchased KPAZ-TV in Phoenix, Arizona , becoming its second television station property. During the 1980s and 1990s, TBN purchased additional independent television stations and signed on new stations around the United States; the purchase of the existing stations was done in order to gain cable carriage, due to

6880-510: Was against network policy for personalities to attack each other on-air (Schuller had a regular show on TBN). As a result, Jack Van Impe Ministries announced that it would no longer air Van Impe's program on TBN. TBN produces and airs the Christian reality show Travel the Road , which features missionaries Tim Scott and Will Decker in remote and often war-torn locations. In December 2008,

6966-429: Was branded as VISN-ACTS . VISN-ACTS was rebranded as the Faith & Values Channel in 1993, with its programming being refocused to include more news and information content. The cable industry wouldn't put country music , rap , rock , polka and big bands into one channel. That's exactly what they've tried to do with Faith & Values. In 1995, originating founding sponsor Tele-Communications Inc purchased

7052-543: Was fired by TBN after he was arrested for drug-related offenses and returned to prison for a year. Ford allegedly threatened to sue TBN for wrongful termination and sexual harassment after the network refused to hire him following his release, resulting in his claims against Crouch. TBN officials stated that the settlement was made in order to avoid a lengthy and expensive lawsuit. In late 2003, Ford attempted to extort Crouch, threatening to release an autobiographical manuscript of their alleged affair if TBN did not purchase

7138-406: Was like. We were interviewing the chaplains and we talked to them. We spoke at the services and things like that. So we did do our mission being over there as far as being able to document what the soldiers go through, what it's like in Afghanistan. So I could say that we were on a secular mission as well as far as documenting. I would say we were news reporters as well, we were delivering news of what

7224-480: Was planned that the network would eventually be carried by 1,000 cable systems. ACTS was projected to have a potential audience reach of 7 million households by the fall of 1984, and anywhere between 14 and 40 million at the end of 1985. However, some of the SBCs LPTV plans were held back when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) changed some of the regulations regarding the licensing of such stations. At

7310-409: Was the first television network established by a Protestant denomination . ACTS launched in 1984 as a non-commercial service, but was converted into a for-profit network in 1988. In 1992, ACTS began sharing channel space with a similarly formatted cable network, the Vision Interfaith Satellite Network , with the two being co-branded under the name VISN-ACTS . The unified channel later evolved into

7396-403: Was to be a nonprofit venture, and also disallowed any form of on-air solicitation. The network was the brainchild of former SBC president Jimmy R. Allen. Allen had been elected to the post of president of the RTVC immediately following the end of his tenure as convention president. One of his primary goals in the post was to help local churches use radio and television effectively and to "explore

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