Smile (TV network)


Smile is an American Christian free-to-air television network owned and operated by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. The network is aimed at children between the ages 2 to 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.
Smile is also available on pay-TV providers as well as on some streaming services that offer TBN's six U.S. networks.
The network is available in the U.S. on DirecTV and Dish Network 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 signal in some areas of Asia and the Philippines. The network is also livestreamed on both its own and TBN's website.
In addition, a parent network TBN runs a "Smile" block on Saturday mornings. On October 26, 2015, KTV aired a block of Smile programming until sometime in 2017.

History

Early history, as Smile of a Child

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. 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.
Smile was initially available as a 24-hour-a-day service on all platforms, debuted on digital subchannels of TBN owned-and-operated station in 13 markets. 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. The network's original butterfly logo is a visual representation of the initials of Jan Crouch's maiden name, JWB.

Multicasting consolidation with JUCE TV

On June 1, 2015, Smile was combined into a single subchannel with sister network JUCE TV, 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 on the third subchannel occupied by JUCE on the 38 stations owned directly by TBN and through its subsidiary Community Educational Television. The following week, the time share was modified so that Smile would air from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with JUCE airing the remainder of the day, giving each network a daily 12-hour window on its O&O stations' DT3 subchannels.
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.
While it now has a reduced presence on broadcast television, Smile continues to maintain a 24-hour-day schedule, with all programming not shown over-the-air remaining available 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.
On January 1, 2017, the network underwent a major rebranding, shortening its name to simply Smile; accordingly, it removed the butterfly logo and graphics package that had been in use since 2005.
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.

Programming

Although primarily a Christian-based network, Smile has acquired some secular programming from outside producers and the public domain, such as Lassie and The Big Garage, as well as acquiring the U.S. rights to Canadian series such as Mickey's Farm. It also airs family-oriented movies with religious/inspirational themes on Friday afternoons and Saturday evenings.

Current programming

Programs in bold indicate that the program also airs Saturdays on TBN as part of their "Smile" children's block.
All programs listed are designated as E/I by Smile, completely fulfilling the Federal Communications Commission's educational programming requirements.
2008: Parents Television Council Entertainment Seal of Approval