New International Chanal

[pjotr]

Qatar has Al Jazeera, Saudi Arabia has Al Arabya and MBC, the USA have Fox news and CNN, Great Britain has BBC worldservice and Sky News, now Israel has it's own international chanal; i24News

i24News will be broadcasted in three international languages; English, French and Arabic. (Surprisingly it does not air in Hebrew)

www.youtube.com/user/i24News?feature=watch





www.i24news.tv/

A new Israeli television channel called "i24news" that will go out in English, French and Arabic is to begin broadcasting by summer this year, AFP reported.

The channel, which is based in Jaffa Port just south of Tel Aviv, aims to rival global news outlets like Al-Jazeera and France 24, its executives say.

i24news "will broadcast news from the heart of Middle East," the channel said in a statement.

"The letter 'i' was chosen as representing several of the topics and values that will guide the channel: international, information, independent, individual, innovation, interactive, etc. The number 24, of course, stands for a 24/7 broadcast," it said.

An Internet site in the same languages will also be launched at the same time at web address www.i24news.tv

Content production will be headed by Israeli TV executives, notably Haim Slutzky, a producer for Channel 8 television.

The channel will be partially funded by Franco-Israeli businessman and telecoms tycoon Patrick Drahi, and Frank Melloul, a former French government adviser on security and disarmament, will be its chief executive.

[pjotr]

An Israeli Version Of Al-Jazeera?


Patrick Drahi

Patrick Drahi, a French-Israeli businessman, is planning to establish an Israeli version of the Arab world's Al Jazeera news channel – that is, a broadcast station that will espouse the Israeli perspective on Middle Eastern and global affairs.

Drahi, who entered the Israeli communications market four years ago by purchasing a controlling stake in the HOT cable TV company, will operate the new station, i24News, from Israel and initially broadcast in French to France and the former French colonies, English-language news for the U.S.-Canadian market and Arabic for the Arab countries in the Middle east and Northern-Africa.

Slutzky confirmed the report and added that i24News “will contribute to Zionism.”

The Haaretz newspaper of Israel reported that the government will play no role in i24News. No start date for the venture has been revealed either.

Patrick Drahi has… "a sincere and real Zionist motivation to help improve Israel's image by presenting the vibrant, modern, young lifestyle of the Israelis who live here,” a source told Haaretz.



“In addition to the content broadcast from Israel, the channel will also document the life of Jewish communities abroad."

Another source told the paper that Drahi wants to offer “a balanced presentation of life in Israel throughout the world [that] will help strengthen the country's image."

Drahi also owns a cable company called Numericable SA, which operates in France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

In May 2012, Israeli media reported that the four biggest investors in the country’s communications industry – including Drahi – suffered huge financial losses over just two days on the stock market due to the entry of a handful of new cell phone companies into the market, offering prices that were below expectations.

Drahi was identified as the single biggest loser over that period, having incurred a paper loss of some 243 million new shekels ($62 million) through his stock ownership of HOT cable company.

Drahi faces a monumental task in trying to match Al Jazeera, which reportedly boasts 40 to 45-million viewers across the Arab world.


Patrick Drahi on the left in december 2012