Founded as Smile of a Child TV by TBN co-founder Jan Crouch, the network was developed and named after Smile of a Child, a children's outreach ministry founded by Jan and Paul Crouch in the 1990s to provide services and donations to needy children worldwide.

[5] Smile was initially available as a 24-hour-a-day service on all platforms, and debuted on digital subchannels of TBN owned-and-operated station in 13 markets.

On June 1, 2015, Smile was combined into a single subchannel with a sister network JUCE TV (which targets teenagers and young adults 13 to 30 years of age), under a timeshare arrangement.

As a result of the realignment, for over-the-air viewers, Smile was originally reduced to a 9-hour daily programming schedule (from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern Time) on the third subchannel occupied by JUCE (which continues to air over its existing subchannel slot for the remainder of the broadcast day) on the 38 stations owned directly by TBN and through its subsidiary Community Educational Television.

As part of the end of Smile, TBN promoted Yippee TV, a separate streaming service and a live feed on TBN+, to its viewers looking for similar faith-based children's content.