| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Los Angeles |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Picture format | 1080i (HDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Church of Scientology |
| History | |
| Launched | March 12, 2018 |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| KSCN-TV Los Angeles | Channel 22.1 |
| Streaming media | |
| Scientology.tv | scientology |
Scientology Network is an American television network and streaming service launched by the Church of Scientology in 2018.
In 2011, the Church of Scientology acquired the KCET Studios property, a 4.5-acre (1.8 ha) parcel with 300,000 square feet (27,900 m2) of facility which included two sound stages, post-production facilities, offices, and a satellite uplink. The studios, located at 4401 Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles, California, are a cultural landmark in Hollywood that dates back to 1912. [1] [2] In 1978, the property had been designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. [3] When KCET split from PBS, they sold the studio property for $45 million with leaseback, remaining for another year. [1]
The Church of Scientology says they spent a further $50 million on renovations and upgrades on the facility which was slated to be the "centralized global communications hub for the church's media activities, which include public service announcements, television programming, advertisements, magazines, brochures, internet and every other conceivable type of content." The grand opening was held in May 2016 with its new name "Scientology Media Productions". [4] [5] [6]
The Church of Scientology announced that Scientology Network would launch on March 12, 2018 and be available on DirecTV channel 320, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, iTunes, Google Play, and the website Scientology.tv. [7] [8] As of 2021, it was also available on Google Chromecast and aired in 17 languages. [5]
The network is dedicated to Scientology topics and broadcasts such shows as Meet a Scientologist and L. Ron Hubbard: In His Own Voice. [9]
Meruelo Media announced on July 29, 2024 that KWHY-TV (channel 22) would be sold to a broadcast division of the church known as Sunset Boulevard Broadcasting for $30 million; the deal includes a channel sharing agreement with KBEH (channel 63), which remains under Meruelo ownership. [10] [11]
On December 16, 2024, the Sunset Boulevard Broadcasting Corporation filed to change the station's call letters to KSCN-TV. [12] The church began simulcasting Scientology Network content on January 1, 2025, with it currently being the only channel the station offers.
According to Variety , the "Scientology Network appears to be another example of a well-heeled brand sidestepping traditional media and advertising platforms for a direct-to-consumer approach with a 24/7 TV channel to spread its message." [13]
Depicting something "in between a self-help seminar, an infomercial, and a drug commercial", Vox describes the channel as showing little of Scientology techniques or terminology but instead offering a series of very similar programs, mostly interviews with people who have already chosen Scientology contrasted with images depicting the downsides of modern life without Scientology. Vox further laments, the channel is an "intersection of capitalism and spirituality that has come to define the American religious landscape." [14]
A Vice writer said the network was supposed to convey the principles of Scientology, but he instead found it confusing, jargon-heavy, contradictory, repetitive and boring, and certain claims by Scientology got grander and vaguer. For example, in one show the "implication was that Scientology is the reason that the rioting that happened in Ferguson didn't spread nationwide" or in the case of the Colombian conflict "as the result of Scientologists giving talks and handing out literature on the importance of human rights, crime dropped and complaints against the military—who had previously been murdering civilians—fell 96 percent." The reviewer stated that the shows themselves are basically commercials for Scientology, which would have commercial breaks showing commercials for more commercials. [15]
Quartz media said, "Unfortunately for Scientology, the church picked literally the worst time to get into the TV game. The number of cable and streaming TV channels and series has increased exponentially in recent years—making it harder and harder for brands to stick out in the era of 'peak TV'." [16]
Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a neighborhood and district in the central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures, are located in or near Hollywood.
KCET is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOCE-TV. The two stations share studios at The Pointe in Burbank; KCET's transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Leah Marie Remini is an American actress. She starred as Carrie Heffernan on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens (1998–2007) and as Vanessa Celluci in the CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait (2017–2018), both alongside Kevin James.
David Miscavige is an American Scientologist who is serving as the second and current leader of the Church of Scientology. His official title within the organization is Chairman of the Board of the Religious Technology Center. RTC is a corporation that controls the trademarks and copyrights of Dianetics and Scientology. He is also referred to within the Scientology organization as "DM", "COB", and "Captain of the Sea Org".
KSCN-TV is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, airing programming from the Scientology Network. The station is owned by Sunset Boulevard Broadcasting, a company affiliated with the Church of Scientology. KSCN-TV's studios are located at the KCET Studios on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson. KSCN-TV shares RF channel 4 under a channel sharing agreement with Garden Grove–licensed KBEH.
Jessica Feshbach, also known as Jessica Feshbach Rodriguez and Jessica Davis, is an American former official within the Church of Scientology organization. The daughter of a family with a long tradition in Scientology, she attended The Delphian School in Yamhill County, Oregon, a Scientology school.
The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a business, or a new religious movement. The movement has been the subject of a number of controversies, and the Church of Scientology has been described by government inquiries, international parliamentary bodies, scholars and numerous superior court judgements as both a dangerous cult and a manipulative profit-making business.
"Trapped in the Closet" is the twelfth episode in the ninth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 137th episode of the series overall, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on November 16, 2005. In the episode, Stan joins Scientology in an attempt to find something "fun and free". After the discovery of his surprisingly high "thetan levels", he is recognized as the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the church. The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker, who was credited as John Smith.
Church of Scientology Celebrity Centres are Churches of Scientology that are open to the general public but are intended for "artists, politicians, leaders of industry, and sports figures".
The Church of Scientology has recruited celebrities for their endorsement of Scientology as a public relations strategy. The organization has had a written program governing celebrity recruitment since at least 1955, when L. Ron Hubbard created "Project Celebrity", offering rewards to Scientologists who recruited targeted celebrities. Early interested parties included former silent-screen star Gloria Swanson and jazz pianist Dave Brubeck. The Scientology organization has a particular interest in international focus on wealthy businesspeople and influencers to help promote its ideals. A Scientology policy letter of 1976 states that "rehabilitation of celebrities who are just beyond or just approaching their prime" enables the "rapid dissemination" of Scientology.
The Church of Scientology publicly classifies itself as a religion, but scholars and other observers regard it as a business, because the organization operates more like a for-profit business than a religious institution. Some scholars of sociology working in religious studies consider it a new religious movement. Overall, as stated by Stephen A. Kent, Scientology can be seen as a "multi-faceted transnational corporation that has religion as only one of its many components. Other components include political aspirations, business ventures, cultural productions, pseudo-medical practices, pseudo-psychiatric claims, and, an alternative family structure."
Mark Bunker is an American politician, broadcast journalist, videographer and documentary filmmaker. He won a Regional Emmy Award in 2006 from the Pacific Southwest Emmy Awards division of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 2020, Bunker was elected city councilman for Clearwater Florida's 2nd district, and was selected as vice-mayor on April 4, 2023.
Thomas William Davis is an American financial executive. From 2005 to 2011, Davis was the head of external affairs and chief spokesperson of the Church of Scientology International and Senior Vice President at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International from the early 1990s. Between 2011 and 2013, Davis did not make any media public appearances. In June 2013, it was revealed Davis and his wife had relocated from Gold Base in Riverside County, California, to Austin, Texas. He currently resides in Los Angeles.
Kurt Weiland is a native of Austria and an executive in the Church of Scientology International. He is director of external affairs for the Church of Scientology's Office of Special Affairs, and Scientology's vice president of communications. He is a member of the organization's board of directors, and handles government, legal and public affairs for Scientology. He has often represented Scientology to the press as a media spokesman. Weiland works out of the Church of Scientology's offices in Los Angeles, California.
The KCET Studios, located at 4401 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California is the longest continuously-producing studio in Hollywood. Since its establishment in 1912, the studios located at the site have been the home of motion picture producers, including Lubin, Essanay, Willis and Inglis, J.D. Hampton, Charles Ray, Ralph Like, Monogram Pictures, Allied Artists, and ColorVision. Since 1970, it has been the home of public television station KCET, but in April 2011, KCET announced that it had sold the facility to the Church of Scientology.
Kendrick Lichty Moxon is an American Scientology official and an attorney with the law firm Moxon & Kobrin. He practices in Los Angeles, California, and is a lead counsel for the Church of Scientology. Moxon received a B.A. from American University in 1972, and a J.D. degree from George Mason University in 1981. He was admitted to the Washington, D.C., bar association in 1984, and the State Bar of California in 1987. Moxon's early work for the Church of Scientology involved legal affairs, and he also held the title of "reverend". He worked out of the Scientology intelligence agency known as the Guardian's Office (GO), and was named as an unindicted co-conspirator after the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into criminal activities by Scientology operatives called "Operation Snow White". An evidence stipulation in the case signed by both parties stated he had provided false handwriting samples to the FBI; Moxon has since said that he did not "knowingly supply" false handwriting samples.
Château Élysée is a 1920s replica of a 17th-century French-Normandy chateau in Hollywood, California. Owned by the Church of Scientology, it is the home of Celebrity Centre International and the Manor Hotel. It is located at 5930 Franklin Avenue in the Franklin Village section of Los Angeles, California.
Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath is an American documentary series that investigates the Church of Scientology through the experiences of American actress Leah Remini and other former members. She was a follower of Scientology between 1979, when she joined at the age of nine alongside her parents, and 2013, when she left under acrimonious circumstances. She subsequently became an outspoken critic of Scientology and published a bestselling memoir, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, in 2015.
Scientology properties are those buildings and campuses owned by the Church of Scientology network of corporations. Though the conglomerate owns buildings around the world, the main concentrations of properties are in Los Angeles, California and Clearwater, Florida.
