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 Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

(MCGI), an international Christian organization with headquarters in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Formerly called as

TOP Channel Top Channel is a national commercial television network based in Tirana, Albania, founded by Dritan Hoxha in 2001. In January 2008, Top Channel was awarded national frequency coverage by making it the third such channel in Albania. In 2009, i ...

, The Truth Channel carries the 24/7 English broadcast of

Ang Dating Daan ''Ang Dating Daan'' (English: The Old Path, Portuguese: ''O Caminho Antigo'', Spanish: ''El Camino Antiguo'') is a religious radio and television program produced by the Members Church of God International. It is primarily hosted by Brother E ...

(English:

The Old Path ''Ang Dating Daan'' (English: The Old Path, Portuguese: ''O Caminho Antigo'', Spanish: ''El Camino Antiguo'') is a religious radio and television program produced by the Members Church of God International. It is primarily hosted by Brother ...

), 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 The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. The MCGI leadership decided to air

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

(MCGI), an international Christian organization with headquarters in the

. 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 Eliseo "Eli" Fernando Soriano (; April 4, 1947 – February 10, 2021) was a Filipino preacher and televangelist. He was the "Overall Servant" (Tagalog: ''Lingkod Pangkalahatan,'' formerly called "Presiding Minister") of the Members Church of G ...

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 GlobeCast World TV was a television via satellite service received in North America via the Galaxy 19 satellite, providing ethnic television and audio channels. It was a service by Globecast, a subsidiary of Orange. In North America, the satell ...

, a

direct-broadcast satellite Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commo ...

(DBS) provider using the

Galaxy 19 Galaxy 19 is a communications satellite owned by Intelsat located at 97° West longitude, serving the North American market. Galaxy 19 replaced Galaxy 25 which is nearing the end of its design life and has been moved to 93.1°W longitude. It was ...

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 region via

Dream Satellite TV Dream Satellite TV was the first all-digital Direct-To-Home (DTH) television broadcasting service via satellite in the Philippines. Broadcasting from the Dream Broadcast Center located at the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga. Content is re ...

. Owned by Philippine Multi-Media System, Inc., Dream Satellite was the first all-digital DTH television provider in the Philippines using the

Mabuhay Mabuhay is a Filipino greeting, usually expressed as ''Mabuhay!'', which literally means "long live". The term is also occasionally used for toasts during celebrations to mean "cheers". It is similar to the Hawaiian expression "aloha". A more m ...

Agila 2 ABS-3, formerly ABS-5, was initially named Agila 2 after the Philippine eagle, before being acquired by ABS (formerly known as Asia Broadcast Satellite). Launched in 1997, the satellite provided telecommunications services for Mabuhay Satellite ...

satellite in the Ku band. On March 24, 2010,

Daniel Razon Daniel Soriano Razon (; born October 11, 1967) is a Filipino television and radio host.Balares, DindoDaniel Razon resigns from GMA June 16, 2006. He is currently the Overall Servant (minister; tl, Lingkod Pangkalahatan) of the Members Chu ...

in his morning show ''

Good Morning Kuya ''Good Morning Kuya'' (English: Good Morning Brother) is a morning news-talk program conceptualized by Kuya Daniel Razon which airs on UNTV-37 in the Philippines every weekday morning. The show also provides various public services by means of ...

'', led the TOP Channel's live switch-on ceremony held at the Dream Broadcast Center located at the

Clark Special Economic Zone The Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone (CFEZ), often shortened to Clark, refers to an area in Central Luzon, Philippines. The CFEZ in Pampanga covers portions of the cities of Angeles and Mabalacat and portions of the town of Porac whil ...

Pampanga Pampanga, officially the Province of Pampanga ( pam, Lalawigan ning Pampanga; tl, Lalawigan ng Pampanga ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac ...

. 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" He ...

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 Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

free-to-air broadcast signals are weak and where

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

is not available. In 2010, Dream Satellite started closing its

transponders In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight tran ...

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 Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

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, a direct-to-home satellite television provider owned by MediaQuest Holdings Inc. under the

PLDT PLDT, Inc., formerly known as the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company ( fil, Kompanya ng Teleponong Pangmalayuan ng Pilipinas), is a Philippine telecommunications, internet and digital service holdings company. It is one of the country's ...

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 India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

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 Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

through direct-to-home satellite broadcast via

Thaicom 5 Thaicom 5 was a geostationary communications satellite operated by Thaicom. It was used to provide communications services to Asia, Africa, Middle East, Americas, Europe and Australia. Overview Thaicom 5 was constructed by Alcatel Alenia Space ...

satellite.

Galaxy 19 and Hotbird satellite

When Globecast discontinued its

service in 2013, TOP Channel continues to air in the

satellite. The church also tapped Intelsat 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

and the

via Eutelsat Hot Bird 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, a communications satellite operated by

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

n firm MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd with a global footprint which covers

and

. It uses the DVB-S standard and MPEG-2 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,

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 Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

-speaking countries and "TV La Verdad" (English: Truth TV) for

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

-speaking countries. The Truth Channel's broadcast feed originates from the MCGI headquarters in Apalit,

while most of its content are recorded from its broadcast studio in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, sharing space with its affiliate stations TV Verdade and TV La Verdad.

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 English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Mobile application

On February 11, 2014, MCGI launched the MCGI Broadcast App for

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

and

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

Android mobile and tablet devices. In 2016, it was made available to

Windows Mobile Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants. Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pock ...

device users. By downloading the

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

lication, 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