ZCZC
BSP-24
ISRAEL-MEDIA-TELEVISION-ALTICE
TV station i24News starts broadcasts to Israel
TEL AVIV, Aug 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Tel Aviv-based international
television station i24 News said it started transmitting inside Israel itself
on Wednesday after finally winning a local broadcast licence, five years
after its launch.
The broadcasts were started in English and French, while Arabic-language
programming will be delayed for a number of days due to “technical reasons”,
Swiss-Israeli CEO Frank Melloul told a press conference at the station’s
waterfront headquarters.
All three language services will be carried by Israeli cable network HOT,
he said, with plans to add Hebrew in the future.
“Until now we were all over the world except in Israel,” he said in
English.
Launched back in 2013, i24 News is part of French-Israeli billionaire
Patrick Drahi’s media and telecom group Altice.
The Israeli operation shows the Jewish state and the broader region in an
“unbiased” way, Melloul said.
“We are a global news network, we are here to connect the world to the
reality of the Middle East and to connect the reality of the Middle East to
the world.”
Until now it could only be viewed in Israel online due to competition
issues raised by Drahi’s ownership of Hot, Israel’s top pay TV operator.
Melloul said he would work with Israeli Communications Minister Yakoob Kara
to try to add Hebrew to i-24 News’ existing three broadcast languages.
Current legislation prevents i24’s new licence from including Hebrew.
“I think it is about time to think about a fourth channel for i24 News and
to allow i24 News to broadcast in a new language, in Hebrew,” Melloul said,
sitting next to Kara.
“I know your determination to open the market; to change laws,” he added.
The station broadcasts from studios in Jaffa, Paris, Los Angeles,
Washington and New York. It has 400 employees around the world, 200 of them
journalists.
Melloul said Israeli viewers would see the same content as that shown
elsewhere.
BSS/AFP/RY/1840 hrs