Channel 2 (Israel)

Channel 2 (

On 31 October 2017, 24 years after the Channel started broadcasting, it got closed and split into two new channels:

History

The idea of a second television channel in Israel was first mooted in 1978 when the Israeli government set up a special committee headed by Haim Kovarsky (he) to explore the establishment of a second channel that would not be under supervision of the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and would be financed by advertising, however the idea of commercial television was rejected by the National Religious Party (NRP), which was part of the ruling coalition at that time. On 23 October 1986, Amnon Rubinstein, the then Minister of Communications, ordered the start of "experimental transmissions" on a second channel, claiming that unless these transmissions had started, the frequencies would have been used by TV networks in neighbouring countries.^[1] The first transmissions were aired on UHF channel 21 from Mount Eitanim transmission tower situated on the hills west of Jerusalem. These transmissions, which initially included 2–3 hours of video clips every evening originating from a private TV studio in Jerusalem, expanded gradually to include a full program lineup. At that time the IBA was legally responsible for the channel, but it actually saw it as unexpected competition, tried to prevent its inauguration, and was reluctant to take responsibility for its broadcasts.

In 1986 the Knesset started discussing the law forming the

In 2005, the Ministry of Communications announced that two concessionaires would receive broadcasting contracts for the following decade.^[4] Of the four competitors – the three existing concessionaries, and a new operator called Kan (unrelated to the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, which would only be established 12 years afterwards) – Keshet and Reshet were chosen. Telad, which lost the bid, stopped broadcasting on Channel 2 in October 2005. Keshet and Reshet broadcast 4 days a week, rotating every two years. In 2011, Channel 2 installed a new digital system to preserve news content that was stored on aging videotapes and manage its archive library.^[5]

Experimental broadcasts

Channel 2 started its experimental broadcasts in September 1986. Until that time, Channel 1 was the only channel broadcasting in Israel. When the broadcasting started, a test card was shown and in October of the same year the channel started showing photographs of Israel's landscapes and instructions on how to receive the transmissions. On 23 October 1986, Channel 2 started broadcasting music videos. This is considered the beginning of the Experimental Channel 2's broadcasts. In its first months, the broadcasts were two-three hours long. In February 1987, the Demjanjuk trial was broadcast in Channel 2. In the same year's independence day, the experimental channel did a live news broadcast during the entire holiday.

In 1987, there was a labor strike in the

Commercial broadcasting

After seven years of experimental broadcasts, the bid to determine Channel 2's franchisees ended. The chosen companies were "

On 4 November 1993, Channel 2 started broadcasting as a commercial channel that is not funded by a

As a part of Channel 2's splitting in November 2017, "Keshet" and "Reshet" moved to broadcast in separate channels and one of the requirements to broadcast was that the broadcaster had to broadcast in HD quality.

Channel 2's splitting

In 2014, a bill to split Channel 2 and to end the franchise period in April 2015 was suggested and the broadcasters will broadcast in separate channels. "Keshet" and "Reshet" declared that they prefer to keep broadcasting in Channel 2 until 2017. Eventually, the bill did not pass.

On 26 April 2017, "Keshet" and "Reshet" declared that from November 2017 "Keshet" will broadcast in Channel 12, "Reshet" will broadcast in Channel 13 and Channel 22 will not be used for four months after the split.

On 31 October 2017, from 21:30 to midnight, "Keshet" did a broadcast to conclude Channel 2's broadcasts. The broadcast was conducted by Erez Tal and many of Keshet's talents participated in it. A broadcasting hour was given to "Reshet" to say goodbye to Channel 2.

Before the split, the franchisees started promoting the new channels with their programs. Since the law that splits the channel, the franchisees started showing their logos in the bottom left corner of their broadcasts.

The

• List of programs broadcast by Channel 2 (Israel)
• List of television channels in Israel
• Keshet 12
• Reshet 13

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Channel 2 (Israel).

• Channel 2 – The English Edition by Keshet Media Group
• The Establishment of Channel 2 at
  The Second Authority for Television and Radio
  website