The 'Christian Broadcasting Network', or 'CBN', is a
Christian television broadcasting network in the
United States. Its headquarters and main studios are in
Virginia Beach, Virginia.
CBN was founded by
evangelist Pat Robertson in
1961. He devised for it a religious variety program format that has been successfully used in religious broadcasting ever since. One of the mainstays of the network is ''
The 700 Club'', the longest-running program using that same variety format. Other programs include religious news programs such as ''CBN NewsWatch'' and ''Christian World News'', and the talk-show ''Living the Life,'' hosted by ''700 Club'' co-host
Terry Meeuwsen and seen on
ABC Family.
CBN also manages
Operation Blessing, an international relief and
missionary effort.
CBN also has international programming, producing local programs, from ''Solusi'' (
Indonesia) to ''From Heart to Heart'' (
Thailand). CBN India alone produces five weekly series. CBN has versions of the ''The 700 Club'' aimed at Latin American (''Club 700 Hoy'') and British audiences (''The 700 Club With Paul and Fiona'')
[1]. Altogether CBN has broadcast programs in over 70 languages.
Originally a full fledged network, CBN was later renamed The Family Channel. Eventually "FAM" was sold to
Fox and known as the "Fox Family Channel". Fox later sold it to
Disney, which renamed it "
ABC Family". CBN exists now as a
production company for ''The 700 Club'', and the other
syndicated shows ''CBN NewsWatch'', ''Christian World News'', ''
Living the Life'', and ''
One Cubed''. CBN and
Regent University jointly produced the film ''First Landing''.
[2]
Some of CBN's programs are also aired on
Sky Angel,
Trinity Broadcasting Network,
Cornerstone Television,
FamilyNet,
LeSEA Broadcasting and
Middle East Television (which was founded and owned by CBN, until sold in the early 2000s to
LeSEA), all
Evangelical Christian networks.
Former broadcast stations
At one time, CBN owned a number of broadcast television stations, including the following:
★ WANX,
Atlanta (now CBS affiliate
WGCL)
★ WXNE-TV,
Boston (now
Fox affiliate
WFXT)
★
KXTX,
Dallas/Fort Worth (now a
Telemundo affiliate)
★
WGNT,
Norfolk (now a
CW affiliate)
★
WVRN,
Richmond, Virginia (now defunct)
Between 1969 and 1982, CBN owned a simulcast network of
five FM stations in upstate New York, known as 'CBN Northeast'. This station group was originally constructed in 1948 by a farming cooperative as the
Rural Radio Network but split up following CBN's sale of the licenses to separate owners.
External links
★
Official website
★
CBN India—CBN's outreach in India
★
CBN Asia's (Philippines) Official Homepage
★
CBN Latin America's Official Homepage - In Spanish
★
CBN Europe's Official Homepage
★
CBN Indonesia's Official Homepage - In Indonesian
★
CBN Hong Kong's Official Homepage - In Hong Kong