Branding TOP Channel Launch date October 2004 | Country Philippines | |
Type Religious broadcasting, television network Owner Members Church of God International Key people Bro. Eli Soriano
Bro. Daniel Razon | ||
The Old Path (TOP) Channel (branded as TOP Channel) is a religious broadcast station owned and operated by the Members Church of God International (MCGI), an international Christian 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.
Contents
History
The church began its foray into North America airwaves via a direct-to-home (DTH) satellite broadcast in 2004.
GlobeCast World TV
In 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
In 2010, MCGI launched the 24/7 TOP Channel in the Asia-Pacific 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. In 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 at Dream channel 9 and exclusively available to Dream Satellite subscribers. It also carries the Mandarin 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 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 Group and a direct competitor of Dream, added UNTV in its lineup at channel 92. The TOP Channel however, was not included.
Thaicom 5 satellite
In November 1, 2011, The TOP Channel began airing in larger parts of India, Australia, 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 to air the TOP Channel in the Ku band through the Hotbird satellite.
Measat 3A Global satellite
In November 2011, the TOP Channel started airing on Measat 3A, a communications satellite operated by Malaysian firm MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd with a global footprint which covers Asia, Australia, Middle East, Europe and Africa. 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 1,360 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, Pampanga.
The Truth Channel
Early 2016, the free-to-air TOP Channel for English-speaking countries was rebranded as "The Truth Channel" to align its name with the other stations of MCGI, "TV Verdade" (English: Truth TV) for Portuguese-speaking countries and "TV La Verdad" (English: Truth TV) for Spanish-speaking countries.