Latest news with #TheWordNetwork
Associated Press
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
THE WORD NETWORK TO EXCLUSIVELY BROADCAST HOMEGOING SERVICE FOR MUSIC ICON ANGIE STONE
SOUTHFIELD, Mich., March 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Word Network, the world's largest African American religious network, will exclusively broadcast the homegoing service for legendary singer, songwriter, and trailblazer Angie Stone. The Atlanta service will be officiated by Bishop E. Dewey Smith and will feature special guest speakers and musical tributes from some of Angie Stone's closest friends and collaborators, including Tyler Perry and Anthony Hamilton. For all broadcast details and network-related inquiries, please contact: Sean Pennington Flipside Entertainment Agency Phone: 323-240-2328 for viewing options.
Sky News
11-03-2025
- Health
- Sky News
Religious TV channel Word Network fined £150,000 over claim miracle water product can cure cancer, says Ofcom
A religious TV channel has been fined £150,000 after one of its programmes claimed a miracle water product could cure cancer, Ofcom has said. Two episodes of The Word Network's Peter Popoff Ministries - hosted by American televangelist Peter Popoff - featured "potentially harmful claims," the broadcasting watchdog said. The episodes in May 2023 promoted a 'Miracle Spring Water' product and implied it could "improve serious health conditions or financial situations", according to Ofcom. It said the The Word Network is a channel aimed at the Christian community and available on satellite subscription services. Ofcom said it was "particularly concerned that the programmes included repeated statements and testimonials about the efficacy of the water, claiming or strongly implying the water cured serious illnesses, including cancer". According to Ofcom's investigation, on one occasion, Mr Popoff promoted the water by saying: "Sickness is going to disappear. Supernatural miracle money is going to come to you from unexpected sources. Get ready." Ofcom said a pre-recorded instructional video in another programme told viewers: "Open the package and pour the water onto both of your hands, top and bottom. "Then place your hands on your bills, legal papers, credit cards and loved ones. Whatever the needs are in your life." The watchdog said the claims were a breach of broadcasting rules as the channel "failed to adequately protect views from harm, exploited the vulnerabilities of the audience and promoted products in the programme". Due to "the seriousness" of this breach, Ofcom has fined Word Network Operating Company. It added: "While having regard to the broadcaster's and audience's rights to freedom of expression and religion, we considered the claims that contacting the ministry, or using its Miracle Spring Water, were effective ways to improve serious medical illnesses or financial difficulties, went beyond proclamations of faith and religious teachings and practice." Word Network has been ordered not to repeat the offending programmes.
The Guardian
11-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
‘Miracle spring water' lands Christian TV channel with £150,000 Ofcom fine
A religious TV channel has been fined £150,000 for giving UK airtime to an evangelist selling 'miracle spring water' that was claimed to cure illnesses such as lung cancer and diabetes and produce huge financial windfalls. Britain's communications regulator, Ofcom, penalised the operator of The Word Network, a religious channel aimed at the Christian community available via pay TV, after an investigation into the programme Peter Popoff Ministries. During two episodes of the show, fronted by the US TV evangelist Popoff and his wife, viewers were repeatedly asked to order the ministry's miracle spring water. Popoff, who has previously been rebuked by UK regulators, made claims about the product's supposed miraculous powers and aired testimonies from members of his congregation as he invited viewers to order it. Those providing the testimonials claimed that pouring the water over their hands brought about recovery from illnesses such as lung cancer, diabetes and intestinal disease, as well as curing drug addiction. Others said they subsequently came into large sums of money – in one instance $64,000 – started a new business opportunity, received a new home or were 'delivered' from student loan debt. Each time, Popoff repeated or sought to bolster the claims using phrases such as: 'Did you hear that? You mean God took care … after you used the miracle spring water?' The licensee that operates the channel, Word Network Operating Company Inc, initially said its audience was predominantly in the US and it had a 'limited understanding' of Ofcom's concerns, which it attributed to a 'matter of cultural or market difference'. The parent company subsequently said it had taken the decision to change the contract relating to the Peter Popoff Ministries so that it would no longer air on its channel in the UK. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion In its ruling, Ofcom said that it 'considered that these claims related to viewers' health and wealth and such claims had the potential to cause harm'. 'Ofcom considered these breaches were serious,' the regulator said. 'The licensee had not taken appropriate steps to ensure compliance with the [broadcasting] code. While Ofcom considered that the breaches represented a particularly serious failure of compliance, we concluded that the breaches in this case did not go so far as to constitute a deliberate or reckless act by the licensee.'
