CatholicTV

CatholicTV
Launched	January 1, 1955
Network	CatholicTV
Owned by	iCatholic Media, Inc.
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Slogan	"America's Catholic Television Network"
Country	United States
Headquarters	34 Chestnut Street, Watertown, MA
Formerly called	Catholic Television Center / WIHS (1955–1964), BCTV (1964–2006)
Website	CatholicTV.com
Availability
Cable
Comcast (New England Markets)	Channel 268
Verizon FiOS (New England Markets)	Channel 296
Also available on selected cable systems nationwide	Check local listings for channels
Internet television
Digital media receiver	Roku
CatholicTV.com	Live Stream (worldwide)
iCatholic.TV	Live Stream (Apple Devices)

CatholicTV is a Catholic television network based in Watertown, Massachusetts. It is distributed on cable systems in nine U.S. states, the US Virgin Islands and via the internet.

The CatholicTV Network broadcasts programming relevant to Catholic viewers, including live religious services, talk shows, devotional programs, educational programming, entertainment, and children's programs. It also presents coverage of special events at the Vatican and of papal journeys.

The current president of the CatholicTV Network is Father Robert P. Reed.

History

The first program of the Catholic Television Center of the Archdiocese of Boston was produced on the morning of January 1, 1955 when Archbishop Richard J. Cushing celebrated a Pontifical Low Mass in studios at 25 Granby Street near Kenmore Square in Boston. From that studio, equipped with three RCA TK31 cameras, the Center produced live and tape-recorded programs, and it purchased time from local commercial television stations to air the Sunday Mass each week. Live programs were transmitted to the broadcasting stations through a leased-line telephone connection. In 1961 the Catholic Television Center's studios became the temporary home of educational broadcaster WGBH-TV when that station's studios were destroyed in a fire.

In 1957 the Catholic Television Center acquired a license to operate its own broadcasting station in Boston on channel 38 in the new UHF range of television channels. It adopted the call sign WIHS, and put WIHS-TV into service on October 12, 1964, with transmitting facilities on the Prudential Tower in Boston. It was the first full-time Catholic television station in the world employing a general entertainment format along with the daily and Sunday Mass. On July 27, 1966, Storer Broadcasting acquired WIHS for $2,276,513.16 and renamed it as WSBK-TV.

With funds from the station sale, the Catholic Television Center built an Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS) system for distributing programs to Catholic schools, and it continued to produce live broadcasts of the Sunday Mass under the name Boston Catholic Television (BCTV). In 1970 BCTV moved into leased studios at 55 Chapel Street in Newton, Massachusetts.

In April 1983 BCTV began offering programs to home viewers several hours a day through its own channel carried by cable television providers, at first in Massachusetts, then elsewhere in New England, and also as far away as Montreal, Quebec. In addition to the Sunday Mass broadcast on conventional (over-the-air) television, weekday Masses were also presented Monday to Friday, originating from a chapel in the Archbishop's residence in Brighton.

In 2006 the channel adopted the brand name CatholicTV and the slogan America's Catholic Television Network. By 2007 it had entered into a programming exchange agreement with the Canadian channel Salt + Light Television. The channel converted its video format to HDTV on October 13, 2010.

The CatholicTV Network relocated its studios and offices to Watertown, Massachusetts in 2007.

Distribution

The programming service of the CatholicTV Network is seen on cable systems in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, California, Louisiana and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is also available by digital C band satellite, via AMC 11, and for on-line viewing through Internet streaming video, the Roku digital media receiver and Sky Angel IPTV. Select programs are available for download at iTunes. Video-on-demand service is available on Sky Angel IPTV (nationally), Roku (nationally) and Verizon FiOS in most markets. An iPhone/iPad app is available.

Programming

The CatholicTV Network presents Sunday Mass live from the University of Notre Dame and the weekday and Saturday Mass from its own chapel, as well as a wide variety of Catholic educational and inspirational programming. This includes live talk shows such as "This is the Day," and devotional programming such as the Holy Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet and Benediction, catechetical programs, music shows, entertainment/variety shows, youth and children's programming such as WOW: The CatholicTV Challenge. CatholicTV also broadcasts programming and special coverage from Vatican Television of live coverage of world Catholic events from the Vatican, including the journeys of Pope Benedict XVI.

A partial listing of CatholicTV programs:

Religious services and devotional prayers

• Daily Mass
• Sunday Vigil Mass from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
• Sunday Mass Live from the University of Notre Dame
• Divine Mercy Chaplet
• English Perpetual Help Novena
• The Holy Rosary

Spanish-language programs

• AHTV (Apostolado Hispano Television)
• Buena Nueva
• Spanish Perpetual Help Novena
• Sunday Mass from San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio (bilingual)

Programs for youth

• Bugtime Adventures
• CatholicTV Kids’ Club
• Sacred Hearts Kids Club
• Real Faith TV (teen catechism, from the Diocese of Trenton)
• WOW: The CatholicTV Challenge

Music

• The Commons (contemporary Catholic music)
• The Joy of Music (organist Diane Bish)
• Revolution (Christian music videos and artist interviews)

Vatican Television Center programs

• Octava Dies
• The General Papal Audience

History and biography

• Catholic Saints and Lay People (biography)
• Church History (Prof. Ann Orlando)
• The Little Flower
• 100 Years of Father Peyton
• Roots of Faith (history of the Church in Louisiana)

Scripture

• Experiencing Paul, Experiencing God (Prof. John Clabeaux)
• The Gospel of Matthew (Prof. John Clabeaux)
• Looking at the Hebrew Scriptures (Rabbi Samuel Chiel)
• Mark the Perilous Journey (Prof. Clabeaux)
• The New and Eternal Word (Msgr. James Moroney)
• Sacred Time (Bishop Christopher Coyne)

Other programs

• BLINK (magazine show)
• Body Matters (medical ethics and life issues)
• The Call (vocations to religious life and the priesthood)
• Catholic Corner (from Princeton, New Jersey)
• Catholic Destinations (travel)
• Catholic Focus (current affairs)
• Catholicism with Father Robert Barron
• Catholics Matter (from Phoenix, Arizona)
• CatholicTV Presents (specials)
• The Choices We Face (Catholic evangelist Ralph Martin)
• ClearVoice (weekly magazine with John Monahan and Christine Caswell))
• A Closer Walk (Fr. Jeff Bayhi)
• Conversations with Cardinal Seán
• Day of Discovery (RBC Ministries)
• Defenders of the Faith (Steve Ray)
• Discernment of Spirits (Fr. Timothy Gallagher, on Ignatian spiritual teaching)
• Facing Life Head-On (life issues)
• Faith Café (Evangelization)
• Feed My Sheep
• Focus (Abp. Philip Hannan)
• From the Chair (conversations with Catholic bishops)
• The Future Depends on Love
• The Gist (exclusively for women)
• Going My Way (talk show)
• Good News with Monsignor Jim Vlaun
• Hope on Campus (campus ministry with the Brotherhood of Hope)
• House+Home (family life)
• Images of Jesus
• In & Out (the work of Catholic missionaries)
• Issues and Faith (religious news, from the Archdiocese of New Orleans)
• Listen Up (news and current events)
• Matters of Faith (from the Diocese of Buffalo)
• Mothering Full of Grace
• Nineveh’s Crossing
• One Billion Stories (Seth DeMoor)
• Our Daily Bread with Father Paul Seil
• parishFAMILY (parish life and ministry)
• Real to Reel (magazine program, from the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts)
• Sacred Time (Bishop Christopher Coyne)
• School of Faith (Frank DeVito)
• 7th Street Theatre (Drama meets Christianity)
• SpotLight (movie reviews)
• This is the Day (talk show)
• Travel and Traditions (Burt Wolf)
• The Way of Beauty (artist David Clayton)
• We’ve Got to Talk (Fr. Daniel O'Connell)
• Where God Weeps (Aid to the Church in Need)
• Witness with Father Thomas Rosica
• Woman at the Heart of the Church
• Women in God’s Spirit (WINGS)
• Word For Word
• The Word in the World with Father Michael Manning
• Word on Fire with Father Robert Barron

Patron saint

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux is the patroness of CatholicTV.

See also

• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston
• International religious television broadcasters
• WOW: The CatholicTV Challenge

External links

• CatholicTV - Official Website
• Online community site
• Facebook page
• CatholicTV YouTube Channel
• Official weblog
• CatholicTV iPhone App
• The CatholicTV Monthly Magazine