interest held by John C. Malone. The sale was said to have been done because the channel had become too profitable for CBN to maintain its non-profit status. On September 15 that year, the newly sold channel rebranded as The Family Channel. It remained the most watched outlet for CBN programs. IFE went on to launch other TV channels in the US and UK, and planned to extend itself further. 1990 also saw CBN University become known as Regent University. CBN built luxury hotel The Founders Inn and Spa at the university campus, and this was completed in 1990. The name of the hotel refers to the US Founding Fathers. The year 1990 was also when CBN programs began to be broadcast in the Soviet Union, and then in its successor states after they declared independence. It started with primetime specials, and later The 700 Club and Superbook. These broadcasts were followed by 190 rallies throughout the region that resulted in the establishment of 190 churches. Similar special projects were implemented in the Philippines and Romania in 1994. CBN Asia was established in the Philippines & Hong Kong on October 1, 1994. CBN launched its first website in March 1995. Also that year, Tagalog-language The 700 Club Asia began. CBN Africa was established. In 1997, Turning Point International (TPi), an English-language magazine program for people of African descent around the world, began. On June 5, 1997, METV launched its 24-hour programming broadcast on the Israeli satellite Amos 2. This allowed it to reach a potential audience of 200 million people in 15 nations including Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Cyprus. IFE was sold to News Corporation later in June 1997. At this time, The Family Channel was the US's ninth largest cable network, reaching 67 million homes. The terms of the sale stipulated that the channel continue carrying The 700 Club in perpetuity. Pat Robertson said that "We expect to continue to benefit from The Family Channel's... growing family entertainment franchise." (The Family Channel was renamed Fox Family Channel in August 1998. The channel was then sold to The Walt Disney Company in 2001, which renamed it as ABC Family, later renaming it again to Freeform.) On March 24, 1999, the inaugural live broadcast of The 700 Club Asia aired. The 2000s CBN India was established in 2000. It has gone on to produce a number of TV shows