Channel 14 (Israel)

"Now 14" redirects here. For the pop compilation albums, see Now That's What I Call Music! 14.

Channel 14
ערוץ 14‎

Country	Israel & International
Broadcast area	National & International
Programming
Language(s)	Hebrew
Picture format	HDTV 720p
Ownership
Owner	Jewish Israeli Channel Ltd
History
Launched	30 June 2014 (2014-06-30)
Replaced	Big Brother Live
Former names	Heritage Channel Channel 20
Links
Website	www.now14.co.il
Availability
Terrestrial
Digital	Channel 14
Streaming media
Official website	Live stream

Now 14 (Hebrew: עכשיו 14), colloquially referred to as Channel 14, is an Israeli right-wing and conservative commercial television channel and news site. The channel broadcasts news, political commentary, satire and talk shows, all of which are presented from a right-wing perspective. The controlling shareholder of the channel is Yitzchak Mirilashvili.

History

Background

In 1997, the Ministry of Communications August 1997 the government approved the report of the Yossi Peled Committee, which was established to prepare a proposal for expanding and reorganizing the public television and radio broadcasting system. One of the proposed channels was a channel aimed at Israeli heritage, alongside other channels: the Amharic channel, the Arabic channel (which would become Hala TV in 2012), a music channel (Channel 24), a Russian channel (Channel 9) and a news channel, that never ended up being established. All of the channels were scheduled to be financed by commercial advertising. The hearings were published on December 1, 1998, but the launch of the heritage channel had its launch process delayed several times. In 2000, the prime minister amended the licensing of the channel.

First bid

In July 2005, the tender for the Heritage Channel was published. The Hirsch Media Group, owned by businessman Shlomo Ben-Zvi, was the only bidder and won the tender. In 2003, Ben-Zvi already established "Arutz HaKlat" (The Blue Channel), a paid heritage channel for digital cable TV subscribers and satellite subscribers. Since the channel was paid, and did not broadcast advertising, the move was possible according to the rules of the Ministry of Communications. Shortly before the broadcasts began, American businessman Ron Lauder purchased 24% of the channel's shares. The "Blue Channel" was closed on March 31, 2006, in accordance with the agreement between the channel and the cable and satellite companies, with the receipt of the license for the dedicated channel on Israel's heritage. After winning the tender, Thia Communications entered as a partner in half of the ownership, but a conflict broke out between the two partner companies, the channel was not established due to lack of economic viability and the group's winning of the center to operate the channel was canceled in December 2006.

Second bid

In February 2008, the Cable and Satellite Council announced that it would once again publish a tender for a heritage channel. In March 2012, the second tender was published. According to the terms of the tender, the equity of the owners of the channel must be 24 million shekels, the winner himself will provide a bond of three million shekels to comply with the terms of the license, the channel's broadcasts will be financed from the sale of advertisements and sponsorships, as well as from the sale of programs and parts of programs, and the channel's broadcasts need to cover issues related to Israel's heritage, to the Jewish religion, to the history, culture and tradition of the Jewish people in the Diaspora and in the State of Israel. Yitzhak Mirleshvili was the only bidder in the tender, and he won it; in August 2013 he received the license to operate the channel.

Early years on channel 20

Before the establishment of the channel, the slot later used by Channel 20 was broadcast from studios that are used by the Israeli version of Big Brother, in Neve Ilan.

Channel 20 started broadcasting on 30 June 2014 under a trial period that lasted for several weeks. The channel was made available on Yes and HOT from the outset, with the possibility of launching it terrestrially on the Second Authority's Idan+ platform at the short-term. Ynet housed its live stream.

Under the terms of the license, the channel was prohibited from broadcasting broadcasts unrelated to Israel's heritage, and the Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting rejected its request to broadcast Hapoel Jerusalembasketball matches. In June 2015, the council imposed a fine on the channel for violating the terms of the license for broadcasting an election rally, and in August of that year another fine was imposed on it for broadcasting news flashes.

In December 2016, the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council approved channel 20 to broadcast news, up to an hour during prime-time hours and up to 30 minutes during the rest of the day. The channel's license specifies its nature: "The channel's broadcasts will cover a wide range of topics, related to the heritage of Israel, the Jewish religion, the history, culture and tradition of the Jewish people in the Diaspora and in the State of Israel, taking into account the cultural and social existence of the Jewish public in all its components, currents and shades, in the State of Israel and in the Diaspora."

On May 4, 2017, Channel 20 was chosen to be the operator of the Knesset channel for a decade. On December 7, the Cable and Satellite Council rejected the channel's proposal due to flaws discovered in it.

In the Globes brand index for 2017, the channel was ranked third in the category of television channels, ahead of Kan 11 (fourth), Channel 24 (fifth) and Channel 9 (sixth) and behind Channel 10 and Channel 2 (tied for first).

As Now 14

In 2021, it was announced that Channel 20 would be rebranded to Now 14 (Hebrew: עכשיו 14) and subsequently moved to the 14th slot on TV receivers, right after Reshet 13. The move happened on 28 November that year.

The channel moved studios a couple times, and their most recent move was on 28 November 2021, when they moved to their current studio in Modi'in.

The channel primarily features news programming and, occasionally, religious programming, though the quantity of religious programs has been on a decline as the channel shifted to a more news-oriented approach over the years.

The most popular show on the channel is The Patriots, which features a panel of journalists and other activists discussing issues in the world, as well as commenting on social media posts from various people, and everyone is given a limited time to give an opinion. When the time is over, a buzzer is activated.

Now 14's main news show is broadcast at 19:30 Israel time since 28 November 2021, unlike the other big three channels which broadcast their main news show at around 20:00.

Controversy

Channel 14 is often defined as politically biased towards the Israeli right-wing and far-right and is often favourable towards Benjamin Netanyahu. Knesset members from the Likud recommended watching Channel 14 because "it is a right-wing channel that appeals to a right-wing audience".

In September 2024, three Israeli human rights organizations, Zulat, Hatzlacha, and The Democratic Bloc, wrote a letter regarding statements made on the channel, including 50 statements supporting genocide in Gaza and 150 statements calling for war crimes such as indiscriminate killing, mass deportation and starvation. The letter requested a criminal investigation and was sent to the Attorney General of Israel and the Second Authority for Television and Radio in Israel.

Controversy inside Israel

The channel caused much controversy in Israel over the years. In the first years of its existence, the channel excluded Reform and Conservative Jewish religious movements from the channel's broadcasts. The channel was sued for a sum of several hundred thousand shekels for breaking the Israeli law: Prohibition of Discrimination in Products, Services and Entry into Places of Entertainment and Public Places Law, 2000.

On 11 November 2018, the channel aired an interview with Yitzhak Gabbai, who was convicted of setting fire to a Jewish/Arab bilingual school in Jerusalem and served three years in prison. The interview received condemnations from the many figuries in the Israeli public, and as a result the channel itself and the interviewer Boaz Golan apologized for the incident. Following the interview, the Second Authority for Television and Radio started a violation procedure against the channel.

In May 2021, Following a rocket attack in northern Israel, the reporter Kobi Finkler said on live: "One (missile) fell on a soccer field in a large Arab settlement and very unfortunately it did not result in mass casualties there". In response, he was fired by the channel.

On 30 May 2022, the printed magazine of "Now 14" published an article entitled "LGBTistan: This is how the revolution is organized that exploits the LGBT and eats its children", by Gali Bat Horin. On 28 March 2023, the magazine "Now 14" published an article entitled "This is how young people in Israel are led to castration and surgeries following the transgender ideology".

On 21 February 2023, during the 2023 Israeli judicial reform protests, channel commentator Ari Shamai said on the program "The Patriots" that "these people (protestors) (...) are the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the Belial (Devil of the Hebrew Bible), who refused to fight against the Nazis in Warsaw Ghetto." On the following days, he was suspended from participating in the program. Later on, Uri Shamai called for the release of the Jewish terrorist Yigal Amir who was convicted and senntenced for the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. On the following days, Israeli protest movements arose calling to stop advertising on the channel.

On 19 September 2024, the channel aired an "exclusive recording" of former Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, saying: "we can debate a Palestinian state in 6 years or 8 years". The channel published the recording under the title "Bennett does not rule out a Palestinian state". In response, Bennett said: "A complete fake again. Channel 14 should send its commentators and reporters to English lessons in Berlitz".

Controversy outside Israel

During the Israel–Hamas war, the channel published a number of articles that turned out to be incorrect.

In 2024, some of the channel members suggested that Israel should disregard claims that it is contravening international law, especially in the field of military conduct in wartime, and should stop letting the United States push it around on issues on which the two states disagree.

The Logically Facts fact-checking site reported in 2024 that,

According to The Times of Israel, the "incendiary right-wing" news broadcaster Channel 14 was a "largely dismissed bit player in the media industry" until its viewership grew exponentially in 2023, which sparked concern due to its "repeated scandals" and charges of "pro-Netanyahu propaganda." The channel has been described as "the Israeli answer to Fox News" by Ayala Panievsky, a research fellow at Cambridge University and City University of London specializing in right-wing populism, who, in a 2023 opinion piece in the Israeli news outlet Haaretz, wrote that Channel 14 is "propagandistic."

In October 2024, the channel sparked intense criticism among Iraqi leaders for showing a graphic implying that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the country's senior Shia cleric, could be targeted for killing alongside leaders from Hamas and Hezbollah.

Staff

• Yinon Magal – television presenter
• Tal Heinrich – part-time U.S. correspondent
• Erel Segal – news anchor
• Avraham Bloch – journalist
• Hallel Biton-Rosen – journalist
• Erez Zadoc – journalist
• Motty Castel – journalist
• Shay Golden – television presenter

See also

List of television channels in Israel

External links

• Official website (in Hebrew)
• Interview with the channel chairman Moti Sklar at TLV1