The Truth Channel (also called as "The Truth TV"), originally The Old Path (TOP) Channel, is a religious broadcast station of the
Members Church of God International (MCGI), an international
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
organization with headquarters in the
Philippines. Formerly called as
TOP Channel, The Truth Channel carries the 24/7 English broadcast of
Ang Dating Daan (English:
The Old Path), the longest-running religious program in the Philippines,
hosted by international televangelist and MCGI's Overall Servant Bro. Eli Soriano for
English-speaking countries in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
,
Middle East,
Europe and
Asia. The MCGI leadership decided to air
The Old Path program using several satellites to increase its reach and expand the propagation efforts of the church on a global scale.
History
The Old Path
The Old Path (TOP) Channel (branded as TOP Channel) was founded as a religious broadcast station owned and operated by the
Members Church of God International (MCGI), an international
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
organization with headquarters in the
Philippines.
The station carries the 24/7 English broadcast of ''Ang Dating Daan'' (English: The Old Path), the longest-running religious program in the Philippines, hosted by international televangelist and MCGI's Overall Servant
Bro. Eli Soriano for
English-speaking countries in North America, Middle East, Europe and Asia.
GlobeCast World TV
On October 7, 2004, MCGI signed an agreement with
GlobeCast World TV, a
direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) provider using the
Galaxy 19 satellite, to air the TOP Channel in the United States and Canada.
The TOP Channel aired MCGI's flagship program, "The Old Path", the English version of ''Ang Dating Daan'' hosted by Bro. Eli Soriano. Program line-up also includes the program's question and answer segment "Ask Soriano, the Bible will Answer" (Tagalog: ''Itanong Mo Kay Soriano, Biblia ang Sasagot'').
Dream Satellite TV
On March 24, 2010, MCGI launched the 24/7 TOP Channel in the
Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isla ...
region via
Dream Satellite TV. Owned by Philippine Multi-Media System, Inc., Dream Satellite was the first all-digital DTH television provider in the Philippines using the
Mabuhay Agila 2 satellite in the
Ku band
The Ku band () is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies from 12 to 18 gigahertz (GHz). The symbol is short for "K-under" (originally german: Kurz-unten), because it is the lower part of the ori ...
.
On March 24, 2010,
Daniel Razon in his morning show ''
Good Morning Kuya'', led the TOP Channel's live switch-on ceremony held at the Dream Broadcast Center located at the
Clark Special Economic Zone in
Pampanga.
The TOP Channel showcased 10 new programs
and was assigned at Dream channel 10 along with sister station
UNTV Channel 37
DWAO-TV Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Channel 37 (analog) and Channel 38 (digital), is the flagship news and public service television station of the Filipino-based company Progressive Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), owned by Alfredo "Atom" H ...
at Dream channel 9 and exclusively available to Dream Satellite subscribers.
It also carries the
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
version of The Old Path in the whole of the Philippines and nearby countries. The church aims to reach coastal areas where analog
terrestrial free-to-air broadcast signals are weak and where
cable television is not available.
In 2010, Dream Satellite started closing its
transponders in Agila 2 satellite, reaching its
end-of-life within 2 years, and transferred all its channels including the TOP Channel to Koreasat 5 satellite in 2011.
In 2013, Dream Satellite removed the TOP Channel from its channel line-up. In the same year, GlobeCast discontinued its
pay television service. In 2013, Dream Satellite removed both the TOP Channel and UNTV from its channel line-up. In the same year also,
Cignal Digital TV
Cignal (pronounced as ''signal'') is a Philippine satellite television and IPTV provider, owned by Cignal TV Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the MediaQuest Holdings Inc. under the PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund.
Cignal's prepaid electronic ...
, a direct-to-home satellite television provider owned by MediaQuest Holdings Inc. under the
PLDT Group and a direct competitor of Dream, added UNTV in its lineup at channel 92 (now reassigned to Channel 182). The TOP Channel however, was not included.
Thaicom 5 satellite
On November 1, 2011, The TOP Channel began airing in larger parts of
India,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
Africa,
Middle East and
Europe through direct-to-home satellite broadcast via
Thaicom 5 satellite.
Galaxy 19 and Hotbird satellite
When Globecast discontinued its
pay television service in 2013, TOP Channel continues to air in the
Galaxy 19 satellite. The church also tapped
Intelsat
Intelsat S.A. (formerly INTEL-SAT, INTELSAT, Intelsat) is a multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States. Originally formed as In ...
to air the TOP Channel in the Ku band through the Hotbird satellite.
On September 15, 2011, the church launched a large-scale satellite broadcast of The Old Path in
Europe,
Africa and the
Middle East via
Eutelsat
Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it is the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues.
Eutelsat's satellit ...
Hot Bird
Hot Bird (also styled HOTBIRD) is a group of satellites operated by Eutelsat, located at 13 °E over the equator ( orbital position) and with a transmitting footprint over Asia, Europe, North Africa, Americas and the Middle East.
Only digital r ...
6/8/9 satellite, making it available even to countries where non-Islam religions are banned.
Measat 3A Global satellite
In November 2011, the TOP Channel started airing on
Measat 3A
MEASAT-3a is a communications satellite which MEASAT Satellite Systems intends to operate in geosynchronous orbit at 91.5 degrees East longitude. It was built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, based on the STAR-2 spacecraft platform.
History
O ...
, a communications satellite operated by
Malaysian firm MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd with a global footprint which covers
Asia,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
Middle East,
Europe and
Africa. It uses the
DVB-S
Digital Video Broadcasting – Satellite (DVB-S) is the original DVB standard for Satellite Television and dates from 1995, in its first release, while development lasted from 1993 to 1997. The first commercial applications was by Star TV in Asia ...
standard and
MPEG-2
MPEG-2 (a.k.a. H.222/H.262 as was defined by the ITU) is a standard for "the generic video coding format, coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of Lossy compression, lossy video compression and ...
video format, primarily to broadcast MCGI gatherings such as worship services and live thanksgiving celebrations. However, this channel is using "Viewcypt" encryption system, wherein access is limited to 1,935 MCGI local congregations (also known as satellite monitoring centers) worldwide, equipped with a proprietary Integrated Receiver-Decoder (IRD) box and a
C band satellite dish to
receive live broadcast feed from its headquarters in
Apalit
Apalit, officially the Municipality of Apalit ( pam, Balen ning Apalit; tl, Bayan ng Apalit), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 117,160 people.
The town is ...
,
Pampanga.
The Truth Channel
In 2016, the TOP Channel was rebranded as "The Truth Channel" to align its name with the other stations of the church, "TV Verdade" (English: Truth TV) for
Portuguese-speaking countries and "TV La Verdad" (English: Truth TV) for
Spanish-speaking countries. The Truth Channel's broadcast feed originates from the MCGI headquarters in
Apalit
Apalit, officially the Municipality of Apalit ( pam, Balen ning Apalit; tl, Bayan ng Apalit), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 117,160 people.
The town is ...
,
Pampanga while most of its content are recorded from its broadcast studio in
Florianópolis
Florianópolis () is the capital and second largest city of the state of Santa Catarina, in the South region of Brazil. The city encompasses Santa Catarina Island and surrounding small islands, as well as part of the mainland. It has a populat ...
,
Santa Catarina,
Brazil, sharing space with its affiliate stations
TV Verdade
TV Verdade () is a multinational Brazilian-based religious broadcast station of the international Christian organization, Members Church of God International (Portuguese: ''Membros da Igreja de Deus Internacional'') for the Portuguese-speaking ...
and
TV La Verdad
TV La Verdad (English: Truth TV) is a religious broadcast station of the Philippine-based Christian organization, Members Church of God International (MCGI, Spanish: ''Miembros Iglesia de Dios Internacional'') for Spanish-speaking countries in C ...
.
Satellite broadcast
The Truth Channel can be accessed by entering certain parameters
in satellite receivers.
Internet streaming
Laptop and desktop users can watch the live 24/7 internet streaming of The Truth Channel by launchin
theoldpath.tv the official website of The Old Path program in
English.
Mobile application
On February 11, 2014, MCGI launched the MCGI Broadcast App for
Apple iOS and
Google Android
Android may refer to:
Science and technology
* Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human
* Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system
** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
mobile and tablet devices.
In 2016, it was made available to
Windows Mobile device users. By downloading the
mobile application, users with stable internet connection will be able to watch the broadcast feed of The Truth Channel for free.
References
External links
*
{{Members Church of God International
Members Church of God International
Television networks in the Philippines
Religious television networks