Seventh-day Adventist television in the Philippines celebrated a landmark as it inaugurated its new digital transmitter. It started broadcasting officially from the new Global Satellite Technology Services (GSTS) Technical Facilities and Earth Station at the new First Global Technopark complex in Barangay Ulong Tubig, Carmona, Cavite, on June 23, 2021.
GSAT (Global Satellite Technology Services Inc.) is a direct-to-home (DTH) satellite service provider owned by GSTS that beams hundreds of high-definition (HD) and standard-definition (SD) channels throughout the archipelago via a European satellite, SES 9. Hope Channel North Philippines has been in partnership with GSAT since 2016, when they signed a Memorandum of Understanding, leaders of the media ministry reported. The memorandum establishes that Hope Channel will assign a channel for GSAT’s Global News Network in its terrestrial bundle, while GSAT will assign a channel for Hope Channel in its DTH service.
The inauguration was timed with GSTS’s opening of its brand-new earth station and facilities in the new location. Being housed in the new facility overlooking Metro Manila and nearby provinces, the new Hope Channel transmitter can reach a potential audience of more than 20 million people with its 3,500 watts of power, leaders reported. “Being carried by GSAT in its bundle of digital channels gives Hope Channel Philippines the much-prayed-for nationwide coverage,” they said. “Through this DTH service, Hope Channel Philippines is also being rebroadcast by cable providers to their subscribers.”
Hope Channel Philippines president Nelson Paulo said that this inauguration event marks a giant leap for the network in coverage and broadcast quality. “The blessing of having our transmitter in this building is the expanded coverage of our terrestrial transmission,” Paulo said. “The GSAT technical facility has a clear line of sight of Metro Manila and the provinces of Rizal, Laguna, and Cavite,” he reported.
Saw Samuel, president of the Southern Asia-Pacific Division (SSD) of the Adventist Church, attended the inauguration and delivered a message of steadfastness and hope. “I encourage you to be faithful to God’s calling in whatever field He has called us to be a part of,” he told those present at the ceremony.
In attendance was GSAT owner and the chairman and founder of the Foreign Chamber Council of the Philippines, Philip Chien. Chien expressed his satisfaction with being involved in broadcasting programs that share positivity during the pandemic. The Municipality of Carmona was represented by Congresswoman Dahlia Loyola, who welcomed the operation of Hope Channel Philippines in her district. Also present were administrators and directors of the Adventist Church from the SSD region and North Philippines Union.
Hope Channel Philippines has been broadcasting since 2011 with its wholistic and inspiration-driven content. It endeavors to enrich the lives of its viewers through its spiritual, health, lifestyle, and family-oriented programming.
Bren Estrito contributed to this report.
The original version of this story was posted on the Southern Asia-Pacific Division news site.
