A new battle is shaping up between the coalition and the opposition over government proposals to establish a commercial television channel to compete with the present single channel which is State-owned but autonomous. Energy Minister Yitzhak Modai is expected to soon propose the new channel to the Ministerial Economic Committee.
Several business groups are know to be interested in bidding for the franchise to operate a commercial channel. If the full Cabinet approves Modai’s proposal, the Economic Committee will begin to consider bids.
Commercial television has been under discussion for years. The latest move in favor of a commercial channel has come at a time when national television, and to a lesser extent, national radio, are under strong attack by government ministers and coalition Knesset members for allegedly being too negative and down-beat in reporting news of government activities.
Modai and Finance Minister Yigal Hurwitz are among the most severe critics of public television’s handling of the news and public affairs. Binyamin Halevi, an MK of the Democratic Movement, recently referred to TV news reporters as “criminals” and had to make a public apology.
Labor MKs have charged that coalition attacks on television and radio staff reporters were deliberately intended to boost the chances of Cabinet approval of a second channel. They accused the government of wanting to create a commercial channel to be run by pro-Likud business interests. Moshe Shahal, chairman of the Labor Party’s Knesset faction, called for tight Knesset and public control over any second channel to ensure that it does not become a political tool.
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