Trinity Broadcasting Network has expanded its distribution flock in the New York DMA.
The religious broadcaster has secured carriage for its flagship channel TBN with Cablevision. Deal terms were not disclosed, but the network was rolled out on digital basic on channel 134 earlier this month, adding some 2.7 million subscribers to its base.
With the launch on the area's predominant distributor, TBN now is available throughout the nation's top DMA, as it already has carriage pacts with Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS and RCN in New York, Comcast in New Jersey, as well as via the leading satellite providers, DirecTV and Dish Network.
All told, TBN now counts some 82.4 million subscribers nationwide, according to a network spokesman.
"We are excited to welcome nearly three million new households to our TBN viewing family," said Paul Crouch Jr., TBN's chief of staff, in a statement. "Cablevision is one of America's largest cable systems, and through our partnership with them we are now able to provide TBN's 24-hour schedule of faith and family-friendly programming to New York City and Long Island, as well as to New Jersey communities like Elizabeth, Paterson, Oakland, Bergen, Newark, and many others."
TBN vice president for cable and satellite relations Bob Higley said that the network had been working for a number of years to extend TBN's reach in and around the Big Apple
"TBN is an anchor of the faith and family lineup of nearly every cable provider nationwide, so we're happy to have found a perfect venue through Cablevision to extend our reach throughout one of the most diverse geographic areas in the U.S.," he said. "Of course, viewers can still receive TBN's digital broadcast using an antenna if they have a digital television or a digital adapter. Currently, WTBY channel 27 carries all five of TBN's digital networks."
To that end, the TBN-owned UHF station, which serves the area from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., not only offers TBN via its main feed, but its JCTV youth network, the Church Channel, Smile of a Child Kids channel and TBN Enlace Español, via substations.
Cablevision is receiving the TBN feed from the company's facility in New York, according to the spokesman.
