Following Workers’ Struggle: TV Channel 10 Gets 6-Month Reprieve

Early Wednesday morning, December 31, the Second Television and Radio Authority concluded an agreement with Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein which will enable Channel 10 to stay on the air for the next six months. Until the deal was reached, the cash-strapped station faced an end to its broadcasts on Wednesday night, the last day of 2014, when its license was due to expire.

Channel 10's announcement about its closing, blaming neo-liberal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Channel 10’s announcement about its closing, blaming neo-liberal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Screen capture: Channel 10)

The Second Television and Radio Authority, which regulates commercial broadcasting in Israel, issued a statement confirming that Weinstein had concluded that a decision on the fate of Channel 10 should be deferred for six months — until after the March 17 Knesset elections and after a new government is formed. In practice, Weinstein assumed the powers of the Second Television and Radio Authority’s council himself, due to constraints over enacting legislation during an election campaign. However, Weinstein limited the extension to six months, so as not to prolong a final decision on the station’s fate for an undue period.

Workers at Channel 10 shut down broadcasting overnight Sunday, December 28, for seven-and-a-half hours. On the screen they broadcast a black-and-white photo of an angry-looking neo-liberal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who, following the breakup of his coalition, also holds the communications portfolio. On Tuesday, December 30, hundreds of Channel 10 employees and journalists from other media outlets protested against closing the channel outside of the Government’s Tel Aviv offices. Such a step would put hundreds of people out of work. It has also raised concerns over a diminished diversity of views being aired by the country’s broadcast outlets.

Among the protesters was MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) who accused Netanyahu of forcing Channel 10 to jump through the hoops because it is critical of his policies. “We cannot agree that everyone will be in the hand of the prime minister and a small group of his associates. There is no democracy without a free press,” Khenin said.