As a youth-oriented Christian network
The network, originally named JCTV—launched at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time on February 18, 2002. The network was founded by Paul Crouch Sr., founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), who intended to develop a service targeted at Christian youth worldwide. (The service would eventually reach most of North America, Europe, Asia and South America through its broadcast service as well as TBN's streaming platforms.) The network incorporated original programming (including adventure sports and faith-based reality series), traditional pastoral programs aimed at the network's target audience, and specials. The network was rebranded as JUCE TV on January 1, 2014.
On June 1, 2015, JUCE TV was combined into a single subchannel with sister network Smile of a Child TV (which targets a younger audience, children between the ages of 2 and 12). Under this arrangement, the latter network began occupying nine hours of programming daily (from 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. local time) over the third digital subchannel occupied by JUCE on the 38 stations TBN either owns directly or through its Community Educational Television subsidiary. One week later on June 8, TBN modified the timeshare arrangement, giving Smile of a Child and JUCE each a daily 12-hour window on the .3 subchannel, with JUCE now airing over the space from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. in each time zone and Smile of a Child airing for the remainder of the day.[3]
The change – which is the result of technical limitations with its stations' existing digital compression equipment – was a byproduct of the launch of TBN Salsa, a digital subchannel network targeting English-speaking Latinos which launched on that date. JUCE TV continues to maintain a 24-hour-day schedule, however, with all programming not shown over-the-air during Smile's programming hours over the subchannel space remaining available via live stream online through TBN's website and various mobile and digital media players.[2]
On January 1, 2020, TBN resumed offering a 24-hour feed of JUCE over the DT5 subchannel of its owned-and-operated stations, replacing a temporary standard definition feed of TBN carried on the subchannel after TBN Salsa migrated exclusively to being a cable-exclusive network in May 2019. On January 26, JUCE was discontinued as a broadcast television service, being replaced by the new film-oriented network Positiv. JUCE continues to be used as a digital brand for content targeting the youth demographic.