In an 18:2 vote today, the cabinet approvedthe bill to close the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) in its current format, and to form a new authority. At the start of the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "The good IBA employees, and there are many, will continue to work for the new authority and those who retire will enjoy full and fair terms."
The bill was submitted by Minister of Finance Yair Lapid and Minister of Communications Gilad Erdan. Under it, 1,900 employees will be laid off, and only 600 retained in the new agency.
Following the government's approval, the bill will go to the ministerial legislative committee, and then discussions will be held with IBA's employees on severance terms and work at the new agency, which will include "Voice of Israel" radio stations, and three television stations: a main channel, which will supersede Channel 1; an Arabic-language channel; and a public children's channel, which will be created through a merger with Educational Television. The television fee will be abolished. The bill proposes that the reform will be implemented by September 2015 at the latest.
Sources inform ''Globes'' that Erdan and Ministry of Justice Tzipi Livni earlier decided to strengthen the bill's sections on the agency's independence and separation from politicians.
Two ministers voted against the bill: Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz and Minister of Environmental Protection Amir Peretz, who said, "This is a violation of agreements and the abandoning of a large group of workers who are not to blame for management's failure. I am therefore not prepared to join the requiem for public broadcasting."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 4, 2014
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