The Hope Channel Tanzania Television was inaugurated in 2014.
Humble Beginnings
Having tested the running of an FM Radio with an Adventist message for a few years, the Tanzania Union embarked on a significant project of setting up a television organization with the same ideal standards. On January 5, 2007, the executive committee of the Union took the action of “starting a Christian Television (organization) which will broadcast gospel messages, health talks, and educational programs.”1
In December 2009, the same committee reaffirmed the decision and decided to have the organization named, “Morning Star Television,” obviously following the name that was already in use for radio.
Following the vital committee action, on January 21, 2010, a Certificate of Registration2 was obtained that propelled the move towards the intended broadcasts.
The actual testing of airing programs from Morning Star Television started in 2014, and it proved to be successful.
On the type of license that was granted, here is the record of 2015:
On January 30, 2015, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority granted a license to Morning Star Television to provide non-commercial Content Services (Television Broadcasting-Free to Air) through licensed Multiplex Operators.
The license limited Morning Star Television to provide content services in the District Market Segment through Terrestrial Platform and roll out services in Dar es salaam Region only.
Morning Star Television is the only television (organization) owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Tanzania and is financially supported by offerings and contributions from church members from all 31 regions of Tanzania.3
Growth
Following a good relationship and mentoring of the Hope Channel International and the need to have a global brand that also indicates unity amongst our institutions, the Tanzania Union made an action of changing the television group’s name from Morning Star Television to Hope Channel International Television.
Morning Star Television has been able, with their 42 workers, to make many contextual programs that have made extensive impact home and abroad.
Among all programs prepared and aired, 63 percent are locally prepared while only 37 percent of them are obtained from Hope Channel International.
Evangelism
The Hope Channel Tanzania Television has led out in several evangelistic series since its inauguration in 2014. However, the ones that have taken the lead in impacting God’s Word and baptisms have run between 2016 and 2019. In the six major satellite events through Hope Channel Tanzania since 2016, approximately 100,000 people have been baptized. 4 While official statistics reflect the positive outcomes of the programs broadcast by Hope Channel Tanzania, many more individuals—unrecorded in the baptismal figures—may have accepted the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior through the channel’s evangelistic broadcasts.5
Hope Channel Tanzania is actively working to obtain a national broadcasting license that would enable it to transmit its signal freely across all 32 regions of the country.
Leadership (2016–Date)
The leadership team that has guided the Tanzania Adventist Media Center (TAMC) remains unchanged from that of Hope Channel Tanzania Television. The team consists of George Mwasumbi, Mkadi, Musa Mika, Rabson Nkoko, and Christopher Ungani.
Sources
Tanzania Adventist Medical Center reports.
Tanzania Union Action No. TU/321/59/2007.
Notes