Smile (TV network)

Last updated

Smile TV
CountryUnited States
Broadcast areaNationwide
Headquarters Garland, Texas
Programming
Language(s)English
Picture format 480i SDTV
Ownership
Owner Trinity Broadcasting Network
History
LaunchedDecember 24, 2005;18 years ago (2005-12-24)
ClosedJanuary 12, 2025;25 days' time (2025-01-12)
Former namesSmile of a Child (2005–2016)
Links
Website www.smileofachildtv.org
Availability
Terrestrial
Digital terrestrial television x.4 on most TBN owned-and-operated stations and affiliates
Channel slots vary depending on media market

Smile (shortened from its former name of Smile of a Child) is a Christian free-to-air television network owned and operated by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. The network is aimed at children aged 2-12 and offers a mixture of children's religious and family-oriented programming. The network was founded as the television branch of TBN's Smile of a Child ministry, created by TBN co-founder Jan Crouch.

Contents

Smile is also available on pay-TV providers as well as on some streaming services that offer TBN's six U.S. networks. [1]

The network is available in the U.S. on AT&T U-Verse and Wave Broadband and throughout North and Central America as a free-to-air channel on Galaxy 14 C-band, Galaxy 19 Ku band and available with Glorystar Christian Satellite. Internationally, ABS1 satellite to Asia, India, and the Middle East, and Agila 2 both C-band and Ku band signals in some areas of Asia and the Philippines. The network is also live-streamed on both its own and TBN's website.

In addition, the parent network TBN runs a "Smile" block on Saturday mornings. [2] Competing network KTV aired a 12-hour block of Smile programming from October 26, 2015, through June 30, 2017.

History

Early history, as Smile of a Child

Smile of a Child logo used from December 24, 2005, to December 31, 2016. Smile of a Child TV.jpg
Smile of a Child logo used from December 24, 2005, to December 31, 2016.

Founded as Smile of a Child TV by TBN co-founder Jan Crouch, the network was developed and named after Smile of a Child, a children's outreach ministry founded by Jan and Paul Crouch in the 1990s to provide services and donations to needy children worldwide. [3] The network launched on December 24, 2005 at 3:00 a.m. Eastern Time, with the holiday-themed special Martin the Cobbler as its inaugural program. [4]

Smile was initially available as a 24-hour-a-day service on all platforms, and debuted on digital subchannels of TBN owned-and-operated station in 13 markets. [5] Over the subsequent years, Smile expanded its national coverage to all of TBN's owned-and-operated and affiliated stations in nearly 40 markets, carried usually on the fifth subchannel (for example, if the local TBN station broadcasts on channel 17, then Smile would be carried on digital subchannel 17.5). The network's original butterfly logo is a visual representation of the initials of Jan Crouch's maiden name, JWB (Janice Wendell Bethany). [6]

Multicasting consolidation with JUCE TV

On June 1, 2015, Smile was combined into a single subchannel with a sister network JUCE TV (which targets teenagers and young adults 13 to 30 years of age), under a timeshare arrangement. As a result of the realignment, for over-the-air viewers, Smile was originally reduced to a 9-hour daily programming schedule (from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern Time) on the third subchannel occupied by JUCE (which continues to air over its existing subchannel slot for the remainder of the broadcast day) on the 38 stations owned directly by TBN and through its subsidiary Community Educational Television. The following week, the timeshare was modified so that Smile would air from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Eastern), with JUCE airing the remainder of the day, giving each network a daily 12-hour window on its O&O stations' DT3 subchannels. [7]

The change – due to technical limitations with its stations' existing digital compression equipment – is a byproduct of the launch of TBN Salsa, a digital subchannel network targeting English-speaking Latino viewers which launched on that date. [1]

Though it had a reduced presence on broadcast television, Smile continued to maintain a 24-hour-day schedule via live stream on TBN's website, and mobile and digital media players as well as on select cable and satellite providers that carry the TBN multicast networks, as was the case before the over-the-air consolidation of the two networks. [1]

On January 1, 2017, the network underwent a major rebranding, shortening its name to simply Smile; accordingly, it dropped the butterfly logo and graphics package that had been in use since 2005.

Resumption of 24-hour service

On January 1, 2020, TBN resumed offering a 24-hour feed of Smile on its multicast tier over the DT3 subchannel of its owned-and-operated stations. (Concurrently, JUCE TV was moved to the DT5 feed previously occupied by TBN Salsa, which the ministry pulled from its broadcast stations in May 2019, when a standard definition feed of the main TBN signal began being offered as a placeholder feed.)

In late February 2021, Olympusat, the main provider of TBN's networks to cable providers in the United States (including Verizon FiOS and Xfinity), discontinued carriage of the network, thus affecting carriage of Smile to those systems. [8]

Programming

See also

Awards and honors

2008: Parents Television Council Entertainment Seal of Approval [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity Broadcasting Network</span> International Christian television network

The Trinity Broadcasting Network 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Crouch</span> American television evangelist (1934–2013)

Paul Franklin Crouch /kraʊtʃ/ was an American televangelist. Crouch and his wife, Jan, founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in 1973; the company has been described as "the world’s largest religious television network."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Crouch</span> American religious broadcaster

Janice Wendell Crouch was an American religious broadcaster. Crouch and her husband, Paul, founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in 1973.

WKOI-TV is a television station licensed to Richmond, Indiana, United States, broadcasting the Ion Television network to the Dayton, Ohio, area. The station is owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. Transmission facilities are provided by unrelated NBC affiliate WDTN, which shares its digital channel with WKOI-TV through a channel sharing agreement, along with WDTN's sister station, Springfield, Ohio–licensed CW affiliate WBDT ; the transmitter is located on Frytown Road in southwest Dayton. For the purposes of its FCC correspondence, WKOI's official 'studio' facility is located at Scripps Center in downtown Cincinnati.

KTBN-TV is a religious television station licensed to Santa Ana, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area as the flagship station of the locally based Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). The station's offices are located at TBN's headquarters in nearby Tustin, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KHBS</span> TV station in Fort Smith, Arkansas

KHBS and KHOG-TV are television stations licensed respectively to Fort Smith and Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States, serving as the ABC and CW Plus affiliates for the Arkansas River Valley and Northwest Arkansas. Owned by Hearst Television and jointly branded as "40/29", the two stations maintain studios on Ajax Avenue in Rogers. KHBS' transmitter is located on Cavanal Hill in northwestern Le Flore County, Oklahoma, while KHOG-TV's transmitter is based near Ed Edwards Road in rural northeastern Washington County, Arkansas, just southeast of the Fayetteville city limits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JUCE TV</span> American youth-oriented Christian television network

JUCE TV was a youth-oriented Christian television network and is a current YouTube channel owned and operated by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. The channel is aimed at teenagers and young adults between the ages of 13 and 30 years, and features a format similar to MTV and MTVU, airing Christian music videos, and original content such as Christian-themed entertainment and lifestyle programming, along with some church services.

In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual program stream, and multiplexing to combine them into a single signal. The practice is sometimes called "multicasting".

WCLJ-TV is a television station licensed to Bloomington, Indiana, United States, serving the Indianapolis area as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Court TV. It is owned by Inyo Broadcast Holdings alongside Ion Television affiliate WIPX-TV. WCLJ-TV and WIPX-TV share offices on Production Drive in southwestern Indianapolis; through a channel sharing agreement, the two stations transmit using WIPX-TV's spectrum from an antenna on SR 252 in Trafalgar, Indiana.

WDLI-TV is a television station licensed to Canton, Ohio, United States, serving the Cleveland–Akron area as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Grit. It is owned by Inyo Broadcast Holdings alongside Ion Television affiliate WVPX-TV.

WWRS-TV is a religious television station licensed to Mayville, Wisconsin, United States, serving the Milwaukee and Madison areas as an owned-and-operated station of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). The station's transmitter is located in Hubbard. WWRS-TV's signal covers much of southeastern and south-central Wisconsin, along with extended cable coverage throughout the area.

Enlace is a Latin American Christian-based broadcast television network. The network primarily broadcasts faith-based programming targeted to the Hispanic community. Enlace's primary headquarters are in San José, Costa Rica, with studios, offices, and call centers in most Latin American countries.

KTBO-TV is a religious television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, owned and operated by the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). The station's transmitter is located near the John Kilpatrick Turnpike/Interstate 44, on Oklahoma City's northeast side.

Brandon Paul Crouch /kraʊtʃ/ is a third-generation American Christian evangelist, youth speaker and television broadcaster. He is a member of the Crouch family, of which his grandfather Paul and grandmother Jan were founders of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ion Plus</span> American television network

Ion Plus is an American broadcast television network and FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network originally launched in 2007 as Ion Life, maintaining a format featuring lifestyle programming focused on health and wellness, cooking, home decor, and travel. With expanded cable carriage, in 2019, Ion Media converted the network into a general entertainment format that matched that of parent network Ion Television, featuring day-long marathons of various drama series.

WYJJ-LD is a low-power television station in Jackson, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with several digital multicast networks. The station is owned by Innovate Corp., and maintains a transmitter on Radio Road on Jackson's north side.

TBN Salsa was an American Christian-based digital broadcast television network owned by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. The network offered a mix of religious and family-oriented programming aimed at English-speaking Hispanic Americans.

WJNK-LD is a low-power television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. The station is owned by Edge Spectrum, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Positiv</span> American Christian television network

Positiv is an American Christian television network owned and operated by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. It mainly consists of a lineup of Christian films, varying between smaller independent studio productions and major Hollywood studio productions, as well as some secular, family-friendly films from major film studios.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kent Gibbons (May 29, 2015). "TBN Salsa Targets English-Speaking Hispanics". Multichannel News . NewBay Media. Archived from the original on May 31, 2015. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
  2. ↑ "SOAC Mission Statement". Smile of a Child TV. Trinity Broadcasting Network. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  3. ↑ "TBN's Smile of a Child Television Network Debuts December 24th". Trinity Broadcasting Network. December 7, 2005. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Smile of a Child TV -- Broadcast Schedule for Dec. 24th". Trinity Broadcasting Network. December 7, 2005. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Smile of a Child TV Hits the Air!!!". Trinity Broadcasting Network (Press release). December 24, 2005. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  6. 1 2 "PTC Seal of Approval". Parents Television Council. Archived from the original on August 11, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Modified SoaC/JUCE Timeshare". TBN.org. Archived from the original on February 13, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Smile TV Ceasing Operations as a Traditional Cable TV Channel After March 1, 2021,". Comcast. February 26, 2021. Archived from the original on April 15, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.