Yitzhak Mirilashvili’s Channel 20 wants to establish its own news company. Channel 20 said that yesterday a formal request was submitted on the matter to the Ministry of Communications Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting.
In a formal announcement to the press, Channel 20 said, “Today, as the media is soul-searching, it seems there is no better time to establish a new news company, which will contribute to growth of pluralism in Israeli media.”
The channel was awarded a license to broadcast content about Israeli heritage, and establishing a news company will require a change in licensing terms.
When Channel 9, another dedicated channel, asked to establish its own news channel, the Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting required it to formalize the structural distinction between the news company and the board of directors, and to integrate public representatives to counterbalance the stakeholders on the to-be-established news company’s the board of directors. It should be noted that after years of operating in this format, and after an investment of millions of shekels, Channel 9 asked to give up the news company, and return to the previous licensing terms, due to the lack of profitability and the high costs involved in operating the news company.
Channel 20 is obligated to broadcast current events. The channel began broadcasting during Operation Protective Edge. Now, after the elections, which significantly boosted its current affairs programs, Channel 20 has submitted a request to the Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting to add a news channel.
Among the journalists currently employed at Channel 20, which leans heavily to the right, are Kalman Libeskind, Avri Gilad, Arel Segal, Sara Beck, and Ynet’s Attila Somfalvi. Many of the channel’s broadcasts are filmed in the Yedioth Aharonoth Group Internet studios.
Channel 20 said, “In keeping with the tender, the channel is entitled to submit a request to produce news independently, and we have done so. We commit to representing the array of voices and opinions that exist in Israeli society, with the periphery at the center, not on the sidelines.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 30, 2015
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