Victory Television Network

Religious television network in Arkansas, United States

the airport in Valentine, Nebraska, assigned the ICAO code KVTN

The Victory Television Network (VTN) is a religious independent television network serving the U. S. state of Arkansas. It serves as the broadcasting arm of the Little Rock–based Agape Church, and is operated by a namesake parent subsidiary that holds the licenses for the three stations that comprise the network: flagship station KVTN DT (channel 25) in Pine Bluff, and satellites KVTH DT (channel 26) in Hot Springs and KVTJ DT (channel 48) in Jonesboro. Although all three stations have commercial licenses, VTN—which is the only Christian oriented television network headquartered in Arkansas and is among the few religious independent stations located outside of a major U. S. television market—operates as a non profit entity reliant on monetary contributions from its viewers to fund its operations. In addition to its broadcast stations, VTN's programming is available on more than 225 cable systems across Arkansas. Through their over the air, cable and satellite distribution, the VTN stations reach 1.2 million homes across the state of Arkansas, western Tennessee, the bootheel of Missouri and portions of northwestern Mississippi. The main offices, production facilities and network operations of the Victory Television Network are located at the Agape Church campus on Napa Valley Drive (west of Interstate 430) in western Little Rock.

The network was founded by husband and wife Howard "Happy" Caldwell II and Jeanne Caldwell, who co founded the Agape Church in 1979; the Caldwells served as pastors of the church until their semi retirement in December 2013. In 1987, the Caldwells began developing a television ministry that would utilize the church's production facilities to distribute its weekly services and other ministerial programs, including programs leased to other local ministries, along with acquiring brokered daily and weekly religious programs from non Arkansas based ministries that were available in syndication. On April 28, 1987, KIXK Inc., owned by the El Dorado radio station of the same name, donated the construction permit for KZRQ (channel 25), an unbuilt commercial television station licensed to Pine Bluff, to the Agape Church for $40,611. The transaction was granted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on June 30. The station, which was assigned the call letters KVTN, signed on the air on December 1, 1988, broadcasting from a transmitter near Arkansas Highway 161 in western Jefferson County (located 4.5 mile (7 km) west of England). By the early 1990s, the Caldwells made plans to expand their television ministry—which they branded as the "Victory Television Network"—into other sections of Arkansas. On February 17, 1993, PPD&G, Inc., sold the license assets of KRZB TV (channel 26) in Hot Springs to the Agape Church for $75,000. KRZB TV had operated from 1986 to 1988 as an independent station but succumbed to mounting financial problems and a signal that did not reach Little Rock. The sale received FCC approval on November 16, 1993, and was finalized on February 8, 1994. A new $700,000 tower was built on Jack Mountain, 6 mile (10 km) south of Hot Springs, to expand channel 26's signal into cities such as Benton and Arkadelphia. Channel 26 returned to the air on April 2, 1995, as KVTN satellite station KVTH. On October 18, 1994, the Arkansas Rural Television Co. sold the construction permit for an unbuilt commercial station assigned to UHF channel 48 in Jonesboro to the Agape Church for $50,000. The transaction received FCC approval on October 6, 1995, and was finalized on December 11; the station signed on as KVTJ on June 1, 1998, from a transmitter near Judd Hill (approximately 1.1 mile (2 km) northwest of the intersection of US 63 and Arkansas Highway 214). Agape Church also filed permit applications for two additional satellite stations during the mid 1990s, with the intent of expanding the network into portions of Northwest and South Central Arkansas: the church filed applications to operate satellites on UHF channel 31 in Harrison (on July 28, 1995) and on UHF channel 43 in El Dorado (on June 28, 1996). The Harrison application was dismissed by the FCC on April 3, 1998, while the El Dorado application was dismissed after auction on March 21, 2000. With its broadcast coverage limited to Central and Northeast Arkansas, VTN relies on cable and satellite carriage to distribute its programming to other areas of the state. On October 14, 2015, the elder Caldwells and their son, Ronnie Caldwell, filed to transfer the VTN stations to Victory Television Network, Inc., a separate licensee operated in conjunction with the Agape Church, for the assumption of monetary operational liabilities. The transfer received FCC approval on December 14. (The network had been overseen by Scott and Loretta Stewart, who became senior pastors at Agape Church in December 2013 as Happy and Jeanne Caldwell transitioned into pastor emeritus roles.)