Channel 10 gets temporary license for 6 more months

A decision on the future of Channel 10 will be postponed by six months, the attorney general ruled, allowing the struggling commercial channel to continue broadcasting through the Israeli election and the creation of the next government, even though the channel’s operating license will expire officially on Thursday.

Yehuda Weinstein instructed the government to advance a bill to extend the channel license temporarily, and until the bill is voted upon the channel will continue to air as usual. According to Weinstein’s decision, the channel will operate under the same conditions that would have been in place had its license been extended.

Channel 10 recently began asking for loans to cover the station’s debt to the state.

Weinstein’s decision was reached after intense negotiations between Second Authority for Television and Radio chairwoman Eva Medziboz and officials at the Prime Minister’s Office and the Finance Ministry, as well as the Justice Ministry and the Communications Ministry.

As they discussed the issue in Jerusalem on Tuesday evening, little more than 24 hours before the current license expired, Channel 10 employees protested on the street outside, calling for the government to grant the channel an extended license to operate.

Officials at the Second Authority, the body overseeing commercial broadcasters in Israel, clarified to Channel 10 management that the state was unlikely to give the channel an extended license since it failed to meet its financial obligations, and that because a large part of shares in the company were held by a trust and not by investors, its outlook for the 2015 fiscal year was looking grim.

Employees said they were happy to continue working, but condemned the solution found by the attorney general, saying it made the station bow to the whims of the political establishment.

“Netanyahu is not considering giving Channel 10 a license that will promise its stability, he considers extending the franchise license in a way that will decisively make the station dependent on the political establishment and it will again need to grovel and ask for politicians’ mercy,” said Matan Hodorov, head of the employees’ union at Channel 10, and the station’s economic analyst.

Employees and pundits have long accused Netanyahu of holding a grudge against the station. Channel 10 investigative reporter Raviv Druker was the man who broke the “Bibi-Tours” affair which has been plaguing Netanyahu for the past several years.

In coming weeks, officials at Channel 10 will hold meetings with potential new investors, including Bank Leumi, Tay Communications and Herzliya Studios. These investors indicated they would be willing to invest in the channel if the second authority would approve that it fulfills the criteria for receiving a license to operate for 15 years.