Go-Cast Enterprise

Satellite TV, an IPTV platform or your own TV apps: how a ministry should choose

Three ways onto the television, and they differ less in picture quality than in who owns the audience. A plain comparison, including where each one is the right choice.

In short: a satellite channel reaches decoder homes, including those without internet, but you rent a slot on someone else's terms. A hosted IPTV or OTT platform puts you on television over the internet quickly, but usually inside the platform's brand and pricing. Your own branded TV apps cost more to set up and give you the audience, the name in the app store and the data. Go-Cast Enterprise is the third option.

The picture looks much the same on all three. What differs is reach, what you pay and when, and above all who owns the relationship with the viewer. That last point is the one that is hardest to change later.

Option 1: a satellite channel

The traditional route, and for a ministry a foreign one: the NBC Act bars licences to religious organisations, so the channel is licensed and uplinked outside Nigeria, runs a continuous playout schedule, and negotiates carriage on a satellite platform that reaches Nigerian homes. Its great strength is reach into homes that have a dish and decoder but little or no internet. Its reach is also its limit: each satellite covers one region, so reaching members on several continents means several satellites, each leased separately. Its other weaknesses are cost that does not stop when you are off air, foreign-currency licence, uplink and capacity, and carriage terms set by the platform, which can remove a channel.

Option 2: a hosted IPTV or OTT platform

Several companies sell internet television as a service: you upload or stream, and they deliver to their apps or a template app. It is the quickest way onto a television screen over the internet and often the cheapest to start. Before choosing one, ask three questions: whose name appears in the app store, whether you can take your viewers' accounts and contact details with you if you leave, and whether the price rises with every viewer or every hour watched.

Option 3: your own branded TV apps

A dedicated platform on your own domain, with apps published under your ministry's name. Go-Cast Enterprise delivers live video and a video-on-demand archive to apps for Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku, Samsung and LG televisions, alongside phone and web apps, and a single app in which members can switch between your radio and your television. Set-up includes your branding on every app, store submission and review, and a verified first broadcast; the yearly service covers hosting, bandwidth, monitoring, backups and keeping the apps current.

Three routes onto the television
	Satellite channel	Hosted IPTV / OTT platform	Own TV apps (Go-Cast Enterprise)
Reaches homes without internet	Yes	No	No
Reaches members abroad	Rarely	Yes	Yes
Countries reached	One region per satellite, each leased separately	Every country with internet	Every country with internet, at no extra cost per country
Name in the app store	Not applicable	Often the platform's	Yours
Who holds the viewer relationship	The carrying platform	Usually the platform	You
Typical cost shape	Licence plus dollar-priced capacity, continuous	Monthly fee, often rising with use	Set-up plus a yearly service, quoted
Time to launch	Months (foreign licence, uplink, carriage)	Days to weeks	Weeks, including store reviews
Can be switched off by a third party	Yes, by the carrier	Yes, by the platform	Only for an app-store policy breach

Which one, then?

Mostly rural, older, offline congregation: satellite reaches them; the internet does not yet.
Want to test television cheaply before committing: a hosted platform, read for who owns the viewers.
Large congregation, members abroad, partners to serve, a brand worth protecting: your own apps.
Already on satellite: keep it for reach, and add your own apps for ownership and the diaspora.

The question is not which picture looks better. It is whose audience it is when the contract ends.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between IPTV and satellite TV for a church?

Satellite TV sends the channel from a satellite to a dish and decoder, which reaches homes without internet but, for a ministry, has to be licensed and uplinked abroad and needs leased capacity and carriage. IPTV delivers the channel over the internet to apps on smart TVs, phones and browsers, which reaches anyone with a connection, including members abroad.

Can our ministry have its own app on Roku, Apple TV and Samsung TVs?

Yes. Go-Cast Enterprise builds and submits branded apps for Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku, Samsung and LG televisions under the ministry's own name, with live video and an on-demand archive.

Is it cheaper than a satellite channel?

It usually removes the largest satellite costs — the foreign licence, the uplink and foreign-currency satellite capacity — and replaces them with hosting and bandwidth that scale with your audience. Go-Cast Enterprise is priced by quotation, so compare the two line by line for your own audience size.

Should we leave satellite entirely?

Not necessarily. If many of your viewers watch only through a decoder, satellite is still the way to reach them. Many ministries keep satellite for reach and add their own apps for ownership and the diaspora.

Is Go-Cast Enterprise the same as Go-Cast Audio?

No. Go-Cast Audio is a self-serve live audio platform. Go-Cast Enterprise is a separate, dedicated deployment that adds live video, television apps and branded apps, and is priced by quotation.

Talk to us about Go-Cast Enterprise