Editing Sky Angel (section)

==History==

===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 broadcasting|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]].<ref name=forbes-skyangel>{{cite web|title=The Tiny TV Broadcaster That Cable And Internet Giants Are Trying To Kill|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2012/08/23/the-tiny-tv-broadcaster-that-cable-and-internet-giants-are-trying-to-kill/|work=Forbes|access-date=27 August 2013}}</ref>

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 content|over-the-top]] [[IPTV]]-based platform, which offered increased channel capacity and [[network DVR]] support. Sky Angel has also contemplated offering [[Internet television|internet]] and [[mobile television]] services, but declined to do so.<ref name=forbes-skyangel/> 

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"){{emdash}}a secular service which aimed to carry "mainstream" and "family-friendly" television channels.<ref name=forbes-skyangel/><ref name=skyangel-favepr>{{cite web|title=Sky Angel Launches Sky Angel 2.0 and Creates New Television Service, FAVE TV, With the Help of NeuLion's TV Everywhere Technology|date=18 September 2012 |url=http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/sky-angel-launches-sky-angel-152949069.html|publisher=NeuLion press release|access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref> In June 2013, the Faith Everywhere service became available through an app for [[Roku]] [[digital media player]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pr.com/press-release/495481|title=Sky Angel Adds Faith Everywhere to the Roku Platform|website=PR.com|access-date=2019-04-28}}</ref>

===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, [[#Carriage disputes|Discovery Communications]]) had refused to allow the provider to "acquire programming in a fair and nondiscriminatory way".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/7521313509.pdf|title=SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTS OF SKYANGELU.S., LLC|date=2014-06-14|access-date=2020-01-17}}</ref><ref name=recode-fcceffort>{{cite web|title=FCC Launches Effort to Help Online Video Providers Compete With Cable Guys|url=https://www.recode.net/2014/12/19/11633938/fcc-launches-effort-to-help-online-video-providers-compete-with-cable|website=Re/code|publisher=Vox Media|access-date=2 December 2015}}</ref>