Israel's second commercial television channel, known as Channel Ten, has been saved. Shlomo Ben-Tzvi and Ron Lauder, owners of the Techelet media concern, have signed an irreversible memorandum of principles according to which they will purchase 49% of Channel Ten's stock for $20 million. Ben-Tzvi, originally from Great Britain, is the largest stockholder in Techelet, which contains Israel's Techelet cable station dealing with Judaism, the daily religious newspaper HaTzofeh, and the weekly right-wing newspaper Makor Rishon. Lauder served in the past as President of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations in the U.S., is involved in various projects for Jewish communities around the world, and is known for his Jewish-nationalistic views.
The headline on a popular Israeli media site, Inyan Merkazi, reads, "Extremist-religious right-wing merging into Channel Ten." Ben-Tzvi has said, however, that he will not change the programming significantly.
The Second Television Authority, which runs Israel's commercial stations, has issued a new programming schedule for Channel Two - calling for triple the amount of Jewish-related programming hours. Moti Shklar, a religious Jew who lives in Ofrah and who heads the Second Television Authority, responded to strong criticism of the decision by the three companies that share the programming hours - and advertising income - of Channel Two. He said,
"The screen is not only theirs... The public interest obligates the three companies to invest in Jewish culture, and not only to worry about their bank accounts... If they think that 39 hours a year of Jewish tradition is too much, they don't understand where they're living."
Second Channel sources said that the new guidelines are simply a correction of a mistake, and that the three companies had "not read the conditions of their licenses."
The headline on a popular Israeli media site, Inyan Merkazi, reads, "Extremist-religious right-wing merging into Channel Ten." Ben-Tzvi has said, however, that he will not change the programming significantly.
The Second Television Authority, which runs Israel's commercial stations, has issued a new programming schedule for Channel Two - calling for triple the amount of Jewish-related programming hours. Moti Shklar, a religious Jew who lives in Ofrah and who heads the Second Television Authority, responded to strong criticism of the decision by the three companies that share the programming hours - and advertising income - of Channel Two. He said,
"The screen is not only theirs... The public interest obligates the three companies to invest in Jewish culture, and not only to worry about their bank accounts... If they think that 39 hours a year of Jewish tradition is too much, they don't understand where they're living."
Second Channel sources said that the new guidelines are simply a correction of a mistake, and that the three companies had "not read the conditions of their licenses."