Supreme Master Television
{{Short description|Television channel}}
{{Infobox television channel
| name = Supreme Master Television
| logo = File:Supreme_Master_Television_logo.png
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| area = worldwide
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| languages = multiple
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| parent = Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association
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| founder = Ching Hai
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| website = {{official URL}}
| webcast = {{URL|https://suprememastertv.com/webtv/}}
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Supreme Master Television is a US-based satellite and internet television channel owned by the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association (SMCHIA), broadcasting from Los Angeles. The linear channel started on September 7, 2006,{{cite web |url=https://www.godsdirectcontact.org.tw/eng/news/187/tv_58.htm |access-date=15 May 2024 |website=God's Direct Contact |date=2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240515144449/https://www.godsdirectcontact.org.tw/eng/news/187/tv_58.htm |archive-date=15 May 2024 |title=Supreme Master Television Is Now More Available to Satellite TV Viewers }} with an interregnum between January 2, 2012 and October 1, 2017. Its programming is centered primarily on vegetarian and vegan principles according to Ching Hai's teachings. The channel features programs on spirituality, predictions regarding the end times and the return of God’s Chosen Messenger, vegan cooking shows, breatharian principles, and highlights damages and hurt caused by war and famine, it also includes SMCHIA's philanthropic efforts and recordings of the many spiritual lectures given over previous decades by Supreme Master Ching Hai herself. There is also a news program, Noteworthy News, with an emphasis on uplifting stories, especially from the animal world. SMTV also offered DVDs of its programming on Loving Hut restaurants, alongside its tabloid-influenced publications.
The channel employs multiple simultaneous subtitles, with most languages appearing horizontally and Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Japanese and Korean subtitles appearing vertically.
Initially, its coverage area was limited to Europe, but starting November 16, 2007, it expanded its reach to ten further satellites, achieving worldwide coverage.{{cite web |url=https://www.eleconomista.es/empresas-finanzas/noticias/311618/11/07/Supreme-Master-Television-Launches-on-10-Additional-Satellites-Worldwide.html |access-date=16 May 2024 |website=Sports Video Group |date=12 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240516112146/https://www.eleconomista.es/empresas-finanzas/noticias/311618/11/07/Supreme-Master-Television-Launches-on-10-Additional-Satellites-Worldwide.html |archive-date=16 May 2024 |title=Supreme Master Television Launches on 10 Additional Satellites Worldwide }} RRsat was responsible for the uplink in six of these satellites.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2010/jan/02/screen-burn-supreme-master-tv |access-date=16 May 2024 |website=Sports Video Group |date=10 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121080256/https://www.sportsvideo.org/2007/12/10/rrsat-to-globally-distribute-supreme-master-tv-via-6-different-satellites/ |archive-date=21 January 2021 |title=RRSAT to globally distribute supreme master TV via 6 different satellites }} In late October 2008, the channel started broadcasting on Dutch cable operator REKAM.{{cite news |title=Supreme Master TV w Holandii |url=https://satkurier.pl/news/43711/supreme-master-tv-w-holandii.html |work=satkurier.pl |language=Polish}}
British scriptwriter Robert Popper reviewed Supreme Master Television (which at the time was available on Sky) in a 2010 column for The Guardian, exploring the bizarre nature of the channel. Noteworthy News was seen as "the oddest of the odd", being presented by "semi-humanoid" anchormen. It was also the only news program to feature a joke of the day section, with the joke being delivered in one language.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2010/jan/02/screen-burn-supreme-master-tv |access-date=15 May 2024 |website=The Guardian |date=2 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606043513/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2010/jan/02/screen-burn-supreme-master-tv |archive-date=6 June 2021 |title=Robert Popper's Screen burn }}
Supreme Master Television suspended its operations on January 2, 2012.{{cite web |url=http://www.godsdirectcontact.org.tw/eng/news/209/sr_70.htm |access-date=15 May 2024 |website=God's Direct Contact |date=2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240515145635/http://www.godsdirectcontact.org.tw/eng/news/209/sr_70.htm |archive-date=15 May 2024 |title=Supreme Master Television’s Farewell }} The channel remained blank on satellite for a while longer showing a blank screen.{{cite web |url=https://satkurier.pl/news/71587/supreme-master-tv-nie-nadaje-awaria.html |access-date=15 May 2024 |website=SATKurier |date=7 January 2012 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20120109083716/https://satkurier.pl/news/71587/supreme-master-tv-nie-nadaje-awaria.html |archive-date=9 January 2012 |title=Supreme Master TV nie nadaje. Awaria? |language=Polish}} One year after the dissolution of the original Supreme Master Television channel, the British holding company to carry the signal to the UK and Ireland, registered in 2007 by Vietnamese officials, was dissolved.{{cite web |title=Supreme Master Television Limited |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06333874}}
In 2019, its offer in Mongolia was influencing many Buddhists ideas on meditation and enlightenment, even though they are not sure of the authenticity of her claims.{{cite book |last1=Abrahms-Kavunenko |first1=Saskia |title=Enlightenment and the Gasping City: Mongolian Buddhism at a Time of Environmental Disarray |date=2019 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-3766-4 |pages=187, 193 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-KEDwAAQBAJ&q=+%22ching+hai%22&pg=PA193 |access-date=3 February 2020 |language=en}}
Supreme Master TV now streams live on the web, YouTube, and across several other platforms, including in 2025 on shortwave via US radio station WRMI and others.
The channel is also carried on many Loving Hut vegan restaurants financed primarily by initiates/followers of Ching Hai,{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-restaurant-chain-owned-by-a-cult/|title=Visiting the Vegan Restaurant Chain Owned by a Cult|website=vice.com|first=Justin|last=Caffier|date=15 July 2016|access-date=29 August 2020|archive-date=6 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200206173851/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kwkaz9/the-restaurant-chain-owned-by-a-cult|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/vegan-restaurants-run-by-cult-leader-who-speaks-to-god/a-45061424|title=Vegan restaurants run by cult leader who 'speaks to God'|first=Elizabeth|last=Schumacher|date=13 August 2018|publisher=Deutsche Welle|access-date=29 August 2020|archive-date=31 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131032111/https://www.dw.com/en/vegan-restaurants-run-by-cult-leader-who-speaks-to-god/a-45061424|url-status=live}} which is reportedly carried in all of its restaurants.{{Cite web|url=https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/critics-claim-supreme-master-ching-hais-followers-restaurants-featuring-tasty-vegan-fare-front-for-an-exploitive-movement-6449095|title=Critics Claim Supreme Master Ching Hai's Followers' Restaurants Featuring Tasty Vegan Fare Front For An Exploitive Movement.|first=Lemons|last=Stephen|date=2 June 2011|publisher=Phoenix New Times|access-date=16 May 2024|archive-date=12 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512190011/https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/critics-claim-supreme-master-ching-hais-followers-restaurants-featuring-tasty-vegan-fare-front-for-an-exploitive-movement-6449095|url-status=live}}
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