ION Television Network Awarded Contract Extension to Air Beyond Today
March 20, 2014
Beyond Today on WGN America will be seen for final time on Sunday, March 23, 2014
After a successful viewer response test of Beyond Today on ION television, the United Church of God is pleased to announce it has extended its telecast contract with the network through December 2014. The ION network provides widespread coverage—reaching nearly 76 million households, equaling a potential audience of approximately 227 million people. Beginning Sunday, March 30, 2014, our programs will air in the United States exclusively on the ION television cable and satellite platforms and on 30 local over-the-air stations.
On the WGN America network Beyond Today television programs began airing July 11, 2010. Since then our episodes have been watched by multiple millions of viewers and we have received nearly 107,000 telephone and Internet responses. Although the Church has greatly valued its association with WGN America, our final program on this network will air on Sunday, March 23, 2014.
We are moving Beyond Today programming to ION because this network proved fruitful in the response test versus WGN America. Besides helping us save money per future viewer response, our move to ION makes it possible to reach a new audience. Viewers who watch Beyond Today on ION would not have necessarily have seen our programs on WGN America. Shifting to ION gives us the opportunity to help fulfill our commission to preach the gospel “as a witness” to many additional people (Matthew 24:14). Furthermore, ION provides us with an outstanding Sunday, 9:00 a.m. airtime on the West Coast which was not available with WGN America.
Even though Beyond Today will no longer be seen on WGN America after March 23, 2014, we encourage you to watch our weekly programs on ION television. For the ION network on cable, Beyond Today airs each Sunday at 9:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific time and at 8:00 a.m. Central and Mountain. For satellite (DISH 216 and DirecTV 305) Beyond Today airs at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, 8:00 a.m. Central, 7:00 a.m. Mountain and 6:00 a.m. Pacific. To find the ION channel locations in your area, including the 30 over-the-air stations mentioned above, visit www.iontelevision.com and click on “Channel Finder” located on the top right corner of the webpage. Enter your zip code and it will provide the channel number(s) on which you can watch ION television.
Additionally, all programs can be viewed on-demand on dedicated Beyond Today television channels on Roku, YouTube, Vimeo, Wii and Xbox.
Thank you for your vital prayers for the success of the Church’s ongoing television opportunities and our other efforts to spread the message of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God throughout the globe.
Peter Eddington—Operation Manager, Media and Communications Services
Inside United: Realtime 
Sunday, at 9:00am PST (Kent, WA) ION Comcast Channel 3, Charles Stanley has always been on. Is BT replacing Stanley? Otherwise we will never see it since you had said BT was to follow Stanley previously which never happened in our community of 123,000..
Larry, if you have a local broadcast ION station and Kent is not on our contracted broadcast list, then no, Beyond Today will not be on. Your cable provider will pick up the local station instead of the national cable feed. You would have to have satellite service.
Larry–we share the same market. therefore BT won’t be on the local ION., I however am in the beginning of the sticks and therefore have to have satellite so i get it on the national feed.
will this be on all ION stations, or just the ones on the test?
Karin, just the broadcast stations from the test, plus the nationwide cable and satellite feeds.
ION doesn’t carry Beyond Today on Time/Warner Cable in the Akron area. When WGN ceases to carry it, please advise where it will be available on TV in Northeast Ohio. Thanks. Happy Sabbath, Bob Dezso – Akron
On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 6:31 PM, Inside United: Realtime wrote:
> United Church of God posted: “March 20, 2014 Beyond Today on WGN > America will be seen for final time on Sunday, March 23, 2014 After a > successful viewer response test of Beyond Today on ION television, the > United Church of God is pleased to announce it has extended its telecast > cont”
WOW, extension thru 12/14… Amazing!!! The “Gospel of the Kingdom” must be preached before the end will come, so I see God is in the mist of fulfilling His prophecy & it’s EXCITING! That awesome God of ours, telling us the end from the beginning. I loved the booklet ‘ 7 Prophetic signs before Jesus’ return ‘ & IAM SO GLAD HE CALLED ME OUT OF THE DARKNESS INTO HIS G-L-O-R-I-O-U-S LIGHT of the truth about His soon coming Kingdom. I found United via the internet & have been truly compelled to keep the Sabbath w/ the NYC congregation. Pastor Davis is going to be baptizing me before the Passover and I am now in the process of unleavening my home for the very first time. I’ve already purchased my train ticket for this Sabbath. I’ve travelled from Bridgeport, Ct to NYC since late November because I love God today & I am compelled to assemble w/ the nearest body of Christ. I may even have a friend accompanying me this Sabbath. THE KINGDOM MUST BE PREACHED!!!!
welcome to the family. i hope you never lose your excitement for living life God’s way!
Like Larry Hardison above, I always saw Charles Stanley here in Southern California, zip code 92585 during the test period. Will most of Southern California be able to see the program? … and if so, what parts of Southern California? I am on Verizon Cable. Will be disappointing to not have the broadcast in our area.
Bill, we plugged 92585 into the ION Television channel finder at ion television.com, and it shows that you have an “over the air” broadcast channel in town. ION Television is available over-the-air on KPXN channel 30 with a digital (DTV) receiver.
What this means, is that the local cable TV companies will then take that local ION broadcast signal to use on their cable feed—not the nationwide ION feed. So, since we have not purchased Sun City separately (please see the listing of those we did purchase at http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/channels), then the only way to watch Beyond Today in your area is through DirectTV or Dish via satellite.
Unless additional income becomes available, we are not able to purchase more stations at this time with our limited budget. We’re sorry.
ION is not available in the zip code 92253 (Palm Springs/Indio area) in the Coachella Valley, southern California. Can BT be put on a local station here?
Hi Ken,
At present our airtime budget is completely maxed out. Unfortunately, without further funding we cannot buy any more stations at this time. We’re sorry.
Please visit our website or YouTube channel to watch it online if you can.
I will be forever locked out from seeing BEYOND TODAY on WGN in Orlando, Fla. The switch to ION would be costly to me and I can’t afford it. I realize that we have to treat Christianity as a ” business ” here in America, and , as you know, business will always cost something to the poor. I wish I could have a life where I wouldn’t have constant changes !!! I WILL DEEPLY MISS MY FAVORITE TELEVISION SHOW!!! MAY YOU REST IN PEACE, BEYOND TODAY, FOR I WILL MISS YOU DEARLY !!!!!!!MAY GOD RICHLY BLESS ALL OF YOU !!! AMEN.
Hello David,
We are sorry that you are no longer able to see Beyond Today on television. Since you have an e-mail account, we presume you also have Internet access? If so, you can watch Beyond Today every week on our website.
For all those who do not have access to ION now: check with your local cable service to see if they provide a free community access channel. For someone who is DVD-savvy, Beyond Today can be downloaded and converted to DVD and then submitted to the local community service. This provides another outlet for Beyond Today FREE of charge…..we’ve done this in the Toledo area and it is an exciting way to be involved with the Work! We are also providing DVDs for the local church area for members not receiving the broadcast. Contact Mr. Peter Eddington at UCG.org for details.
what a cool idea!