Smile (TV network)

File:Smile of a Child TV.jpg of Jan Crouch's initials with her maiden name of Janice Wendell Bethany.{{cite web|title=PTC Seal of Approval|url=http://www.parentstv.org/ptc/awards/soa/entertainment.asp|website=Parents Television Council|access-date=August 10, 2014|archive-date=August 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811235208/http://www.parentstv.org/ptc/awards/soa/entertainment.asp|url-status=live}}]]

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.{{cite web|title=TBN's Smile of a Child Television Network Debuts December 24th|url=http://www.tbn.org/announcements/tbn-s-smile-of-a-child-television-network-debuts-december-24th|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003070715/http://www.tbn.org/announcements/tbn-s-smile-of-a-child-television-network-debuts-december-24th|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 3, 2012|website=Trinity Broadcasting Network|date=December 7, 2005|access-date=June 5, 2015}} 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.{{cite web|title=Smile of a Child TV -- Broadcast Schedule for Dec. 24th|url=http://www.tbn.org/announcements/smile-of-a-child-tv-broadcast-schedule-for-dec-24th|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003152224/http://www.tbn.org/announcements/smile-of-a-child-tv-broadcast-schedule-for-dec-24th|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 3, 2012|website=Trinity Broadcasting Network|date=December 7, 2005|access-date=June 5, 2015}}

Smile of a Child 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.{{cite press release|title=Smile of a Child TV Hits the Air!!!|url=http://www.tbn.org/announcements/smile-of-a-child-tv-hits-the-air|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003152211/http://www.tbn.org/announcements/smile-of-a-child-tv-hits-the-air|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 3, 2012|website=Trinity Broadcasting Network|date=December 24, 2005|access-date=June 5, 2015}} 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).

On June 1, 2015, Smile of a Child was combined into a single subchannel with a sister network JUCE TV (which targeted 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 continued 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.tbn.org/images/slideshow/new%20soac.png|title=Modified SoaC/JUCE Timeshare|work=TBN.org|access-date=February 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213054609/http://www.tbn.org/images/slideshow/new%20soac.png|archive-date=February 13, 2016}}

The change, which was required due to multiplexing limitations at the time with TBN's over-the-air stations, was required due to the launch of TBN Salsa, a digital subchannel network targeting English-speaking Latino viewers which launched on that date.

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. The network rebranded as simply "Smile" on January 1, 2017, with an updated network imaging, including its logo and continuity.

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 was discontinued 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/smile-tv-unavailable|title=Smile TV Ceasing Operations as a Traditional Cable TV Channel After March 1, 2021,|date=February 26, 2021|publisher=Comcast|access-date=February 26, 2021|archive-date=April 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415084900/https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/smile-tv-unavailable|url-status=live}}

On December 10, 2024, Smile began notifying its viewers that the channel would close on January 12, 2025. TBN promoted Yippee TV (and redirected Smile's website upon closure to that service), a separate streaming service, and a live feed on TBN+ to its viewers looking for similar faith-based children's content. The network ceased over-the-air throughout the day on January 12, with the feed terminating at 2:59 a.m. ET/11:59 p.m. PT the same evening. Outside TBN's non-commercial broadcast stations (which removed their former Smile channel entirely), the channel space is currently leased by OnTV4U, an all-paid programming network.

{{Main article|List of programs broadcast by Smile (TV network)}}

2008: Parents Television Council Entertainment Seal of Approval

• TCT Kids
• JUCE TV
• Positiv

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20241210195722/https://smileofachildtv.org/ Official website (archived)]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120317075358/http://www.tbn.org.au/index.cfm/news/soac-jctv-channels-merged/ SOAC & JUCE TV Channels Merged in TBN Australia]

{{TBN|state=collapsed}}

{{Broadcast Television}}

{{U.S. family-oriented television channels}}

{{Programs}}

Category:Christian mass media companies

Category:Evangelical television networks

Category:Television programming blocks in the United States

Category:Religious television stations in the United States

Category:English-language television stations in the United States

Category:Television channels and stations established in 2005

Category:Television channels and stations disestablished in 2025

Category:Trinity Broadcasting Network

Category:Defunct television networks in the United States