Sky Angel

1980–1995: early years

Sky Angel was formed in 1980 by Robert Johnson Sr., who aimed to create a faith-based television service that would be free of the objectionable content he had found on television. Johnson obtained an allocation of 8 direct-broadcast satellite frequencies for the service, and reached a deal with Dish Network to use space on its EchoStar III satellite.

1996–2008: satellite service

Sky Angel satellite service launched in 1996. The channel lineup would consist primarily of religious networks, along with other secular television networks which the service considered to be family-oriented. The service featured 36 channels in its lineup as of November 2002, consisting of 20 television channels and 16 radio channels. Sky Angel reached around 115,000 subscribers, mostly within the Central United States.

On April 1, 2008, Sky Angel discontinued its satellite service operations, as it declined to invest around $400 million to replace the aging EchoStar III satellite, and it sold its DBS frequencies to EchoStar. Customers were encouraged to sign up to Sky Angel IPTV. The company was criticized for refusing to provide lifelong satellite subscribers with lifelong IPTV service.

2007–2013: IPTV transition

On January 22, 2007, Sky Angel partnered with ShifTV to launch Sky Angel IPTV service in Canada. By October 2007, this partnership has dissolved due to ShifTV being restructured to launch an adult pornography service. On July 10, 2007, Sky Angel launched a separate IPTV service in the United States. This involved a partnership with NeuLion to develop a new over-the-top IPTV-based platform, which offered increased channel capacity and network DVR support. Sky Angel has also contemplated offering internet and mobile television services, but declined to do so.

In September 2012, Sky Angel launched its "Sky Angel 2.0" platform, offering services featuring religious channels delivered via set-top boxes, and "Faith Everywhere", which added web streaming of its lineup through an iPad app. Sky Angel also introduced a new spin-off service known as FAVE TV ("Family and Values Entertainment")—a secular service which aimed to carry "mainstream" and "family-friendly" television channels. In June 2013, the Faith Everywhere service became available through an app for Roku digital media players.

2014–2019: Dish Network exclusivity

On January 14, 2014, Sky Angel suspended its television services; in an FCC complaint, the company detailed that it had been unable to offer a competitive service to its subscribers because content providers (including in particular, Discovery Communications) had refused to allow the provider to "acquire programming in a fair and nondiscriminatory way".

Satellite service

Sky Angel offered satellite service with monthly, yearly or lifelong plans. The service featured 36 channels, including 20 television channels and 16 radio channels. This service was discontinued on April 1, 2008.

From that time until January 2019, Dish Network offered a DishFAMILY package (later renamed Smart Pack) with over 50 family-friendly TV channels, including Sky Angel's three in-house channels: Angel One, Angel Two (which broadcast the Hunt Channel during specified times) and Kids & Teens TV. Several third-party channels from the Sky Angel package, such as the Trinity Broadcasting Network, are also included in these Dish packages.

IPTV service

Sky Angel IPTV was available from 2007 to 2013. The service launched in 2007 as a Christian television provider for Canada. In 2008, the IPTV service replaced the Sky Angel satellite service in the United States. The IPTV service offered over 72 channels, including over 50 television channels and over 20 radio channels. By 2010, the lineup featured over 80 channels. Channels were split into various packages:

The Faith Package: includes over 30 television channels from faith-based broadcasters (Protestant and Catholic broadcasters, plus video on demand) and all radio channels.