Israeli Legislation.com
LawAdministrative Law

Israeli Public Broadcasting Law, 5774-2014

חוק השידור הציבורי הישראלי, תשע"ד-2014

Published: 2014-08-11Consolidated Hebrew text as of 2018-07-26 · Last amended 2026-07-28✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-28
Premium
Unofficial English translation — for reference only. It may contain errors or omissions and cannot be relied on as a legal text. Only the Hebrew text published in Reshumot is legally binding.More

This English text was translated from the official Hebrew using a range of translation tools, and it undergoes ongoing checks and updates. It is not a certified translation.

Despite these checks, it may contain errors, omissions, or imprecise renderings of legal terminology and cross-references, and it may not yet reflect the latest amendments. It cannot be relied upon as a legal text.

The Hebrew text as published in Reshumot (ספר החוקים) and on the Knesset website is the sole authoritative and legally binding version. In any discrepancy, the Hebrew text prevails.

This translation is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For use in legal proceedings, request a certified Expert Legal Opinion.

Chapter XII: Advertisements and Notices

Definitions – Chapter XII§

68.

In this Chapter –

"public body" – any of the following:

(1)a Government ministry and a State institution;
(2)a local authority;
(3)a body performing a public function under law;
(4)a corporation established by law;
(5)a body operating on a non-profit basis;

"sponsorship notice" – an indication of the participation of an outside entity in the financing of a broadcast or programme (in this definition – the sponsor), which may include the names of the sponsor's products and a description of their main characteristics, excluding a qualitative-comparative description of the products, as well as the trade mark of the sponsor or of its products;

"advertising message" – including if it is intended to promote a person, product or service, including a covert advertisement, an unconscious advertisement or an incidental advertisement;

"trailer" – a spot intended to promote the broadcasts of the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation;

"public service spot" – a spot on behalf of a public body whose purpose is the provision of a service to the public, whether by way of providing information and guidance regarding public services or for the purpose of promoting sectors of the economy, or by way of directing or providing advice on matters in the public interest, all without mentioning the name of a specific manufacturer.

Prohibited Advertising Message§

69.
(a)The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation shall not embed an advertising message in the content it provides, whether for consideration, directly or indirectly, or without consideration; the giving of acknowledgements or prizes in accordance with rules established by the Council shall not be regarded as a prohibited advertising message.
(b)The Council shall establish rules with regard to this Section, including determining what shall be regarded as a covert advertisement, an unconscious advertisement or an incidental advertisement.

Advertising Spots and Notices on Radio§

70.
(a)The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation may broadcast on radio advertising spots and notices for consideration (in this Chapter – advertising spots and notices).
(b)The Council, in consultation with the Director General, shall establish rules with regard to –
(1)prohibitions and restrictions on advertising spots and notices;
(2)the preparation and broadcasting of advertising spots and notices;
(3)advertising spots and notices in radio programmes designated for children and youth.

Public Service Spots§

71.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation may broadcast on radio and television public service spots, for consideration, in accordance with rules to be established by the Council in this regard.

Sponsorship Notices§

72.
(a)The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation may broadcast on radio and television sponsorship notices.
(b)Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation shall not broadcast sponsorship notices on the children and youth television channel, and shall not permit the distribution of prizes on behalf of a commercial body in such broadcasts.
(c)Sponsorship notices shall be broadcast separately and distinctly from the broadcast or programme whose financing the outside entity is participating in.
(d)The Council shall establish rules with regard to the broadcasting of sponsorship notices, including with regard to their broadcast duration and their broadcasting on radio in programmes designated for children and youth.

Application of Provisions to Additional Productions§

73.

The provisions under this Chapter shall also apply to purchased local productions and to productions in the financing of which the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation participates; the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation shall be entitled to require reports in this regard.

Prohibition of Advertisements and Notices on the Website§

74.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation shall not embed in its website advertising spots and notices or sponsorship notices; nothing in these provisions shall prevent the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation from transmitting on its website content that includes advertising spots and notices, simultaneously with the first broadcast of a programme in Israel, on radio, in accordance with the provisions of section 70.

Rules Regarding the Broadcasting of Advertisements and Notices§

75.

The Council shall establish rules regarding prohibitions and restrictions on the broadcasting of sponsorship notices, advertising spots and notices, and public service spots, having regard to the functions of the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation as referred to in section 7, including on the ground that they offend against good taste, the feelings of the public or public order.

Sub-Committee for the Supervision of the Broadcasting of Advertisements and Notices§

76.

The Council shall appoint, in accordance with the provisions of section 21, a sub-committee for the supervision of compliance with the provisions under this Chapter with regard to the broadcasting of advertising spots and notices, sponsorship notices and public service spots, and it shall be competent to direct the cessation of their broadcasting.

Volume Level in Advertising Spots, Notices and Trailers§

77.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation shall not broadcast advertising spots, notices and trailers at a volume level exceeding the range of volume levels customary in a broadcast that is not an advertising spot, notice or trailer, as shall be established by the Council in rules.

The Commercial Unit§

78.
(a)The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation shall have a commercial unit whose activity shall be separated from the other activities of the corporation.
(b)The commercial unit shall be responsible for the preparation and production of advertising spots and notices, public service spots and sponsorship notices, as well as for the sale of broadcasting time in respect thereof, in accordance with rules to be established by the Council, in consultation with the Director General.
(c)
(1)The activity of the commercial unit as referred to in subsection (b) may be carried out by the unit directly or through one or more others, to be selected by way of a tender;
(2)the Council, in consultation with the Director General, shall establish in rules restrictions on the participation of a person in a tender as referred to in paragraph (1), for the purpose of preventing a conflict of interests and of promoting competition in the field of advertising in broadcasts, provided that a press corporation or a broadcasting corporation, or a person who holds, directly or indirectly, any proportion of a particular type of means of control in such a corporation, or the ability to otherwise direct the actions of such a corporation, shall not be entitled to participate in a tender under this Section;
(3)in this subsection –

"press corporation" – a corporation that is a publisher of a newspaper;

"broadcasting corporation" – a person who is a holder of a concession or licence under any law to broadcast to the public or to a part thereof;

"holding", "directly or indirectly" and "means of control" – as their meaning in the Second Authority for Television and Radio Law, 5750-1990.

(d)The Council shall appoint, in accordance with the provisions of section 21, a sub-committee for the supervision of the activity of the commercial unit or of those acting on its behalf.

Need to cite this law in a foreign court?

Eli Shimony Israeli Attorneys-at-Law provides certified Expert Legal Opinions on Israeli law within 24–48 hours, accepted by courts worldwide.

Contact Us →

Chapter XIII: Assets and Budget

Prohibition of Transfer of Assets§

79.
(a)The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation is not entitled to sell or otherwise transfer transmitters, real property or other assets in its ownership that the Minister has prescribed by Regulations to be essential assets, except with the approval of the Minister.
(b)The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation is not entitled to charge an essential asset as its meaning in subsection (a) in its possession or to lease it for a period exceeding ten years, except with the approval of the Minister.

Budget of the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation§

80.
(a)In this Section –

"licence fee" – a licence fee as its meaning in section 84(a) of the Traffic Ordinance [New Version], before its increase by the additional amount under that section;

"index" – the Consumer Price Index published by the Central Bureau of Statistics;

"the additional amount" – the additional amount as its meaning in section 84(a) of the Traffic Ordinance [New Version];

"the total amount" – the amount listed alongside each fiscal year as set out below:

(1)in 2017 – NIS 546.25 million;
(2)in 2018 – NIS 625 million;
(3)in 2019 and thereafter – NIS 650 million.
(b)The budget of the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation shall be composed of its revenues under this Law, the additional amount, and the amounts transferred monthly in accordance with the provisions of subsection (c).
(c)The Ministry of Transport and Road Safety shall deduct from the total of licence fee amounts it collects, in each month, an amount equal to one-twelfth of the total amount from which is subtracted the additional amount it collected during the preceding month (in this Section – the transferred amount), and shall transfer it to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation; the transferred amount shall not be regarded as State revenues, and its transfer to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation shall not be counted in an annual budget law as defined in the Budget Foundations Law.
(d)The Ministry of Transport and Road Safety shall transfer monthly to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation the additional amount it collected during the month preceding it, together with the transferred amount.
(e)The total amount shall be updated on 1 January of each year in accordance with the rate of change in the index known on that date compared with the index that was known on 1 January of the preceding year; the said amount shall be updated for the first time on 14 Tevet 5778 (1 January 2018).

Personnel ceiling§

81.
(a)The personnel ceiling of the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation and any change thereto shall be approved by the Council after receiving the approval of the Supervisor of Budgets at the Ministry of Finance (in this Law – the personnel ceiling limit); the Supervisor of Budgets at the Ministry of Finance shall make a decision regarding the personnel ceiling limit within 21 days from the date on which all the data and documents required for the purpose of making the decision were furnished to him; for this purpose, as part of the personnel count shall be included an employee of the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation and any person whose primary and regular occupation is carried out at the Corporation's facilities or whose work is in the core business of the Corporation, including a person employed by a manpower contractor and excluding a service contractor; in this subsection, "manpower contractor" and "service contractor" – as defined in the Employment of Employees by Manpower Contractors Law, 5756-1996.
(b)If the Supervisor of Budgets at the Ministry of Finance has not approved the personnel ceiling of the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, as stated in subsection (a), the Council shall not approve the budget proposal under section 11(6).
(c)No later than the expiry of 45 days from the end of a financial year, the Director General shall notify the Council, the Minister and the Minister of Finance, in the manner to be determined by the Minister of Finance, whether the personnel ceiling limit was observed in the financial year that has passed.
(d)If the Director General notified in his notice under subsection (c) that the personnel ceiling limit was observed in the financial year that has passed, the Minister of Finance shall examine the Director General's notice and decide whether the limit was indeed observed as aforesaid, and he may request from the Director General any information required by him for the purpose of making the said decision; the decision under this subsection shall be given no later than the expiry of 30 days from the date of receipt of the Director General's notice, and if additional information was required under this subsection – from the date of receipt of the information.
(e)If the Director General notified in his notice under subsection (c) that the personnel ceiling limit was not observed in the financial year that has passed, or if the Minister of Finance so decided under the provisions of subsection (d), the following provisions shall apply, commencing on the date of the notice or the decision, as the case may be (in this subsection – the determining date), and as long as the Minister of Finance has not decided otherwise:
(1)the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation shall not take on new employees;
(2)the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation shall not engage with a person for the purpose of receiving a service that was performed, on the eve of the determining date, by an employee of the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation.

Loans for development purposes§

82.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation may receive loans for development purposes if the Council has approved this by a majority of two thirds of its members, provided that the total of the loans shall not exceed NIS 20 million except with the approval of the Minister of Finance.

Need to cite this law in a foreign court?

Eli Shimony Israeli Attorneys-at-Law provides certified Expert Legal Opinions on Israeli law within 24–48 hours, accepted by courts worldwide.

Contact Us →

Chapter XIV: Miscellaneous Provisions

Research and development§

83.
(a)In this section –

"the Authority", "the Head of the Authority", "research" and "development" – as their meaning in the Law for the Encouragement of Research and Development in Industry;

"the Law for the Encouragement of Research and Development in Industry" – the Law for the Encouragement of Research, Development and Technological Innovation in Industry, 5744-1984.

(b)The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation may, with the approval of the Head of the Authority, up to 1% of the approved budget of the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation and subject to its budget framework, initiate tracks for the encouragement of research and development projects in the technological fields in which the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation operates; the Head of the Authority, with the agreement of the Director General, shall determine the provisions of the tracks in rules.
(c)The tracks referred to in subsection (b) shall be operated by the Authority, and the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation may serve as a site for testing a product in an experimental environment, in such projects.
(d)The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation may receive revenues arising from products developed within the framework of projects referred to in subsection (a), in accordance with the tracks determined under that subsection.
(e)The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation shall not engage with another person and shall not transfer funds to another person for the purpose of research and development except in accordance with the provisions of subsection (b); however, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation may carry out independent research and development in the field of content, in the field of broadcast technologies and in the field of content distribution, through its employees.
(f)Nothing in the provisions of this section shall derogate from the powers of the Authority under the Law for the Encouragement of Research and Development in Industry or from the activities it carries out.

Publications, events and public performances§

84.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation may publish and distribute publications containing information about the content it transmits as well as material from its broadcasts, by various means, including in writing or on magnetic or digital media, and may also organise events and public performances intended for broadcasting.

Use of radio frequencies§

85.
(a)The channels and radio frequencies available to the State of Israel under international arrangements, for the purpose of television and radio broadcasts, shall serve –
(1)for broadcasts of the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation;
(2)for broadcasts of Galei Tzahal – radio broadcasts of the Israel Defence Forces;
(3)for broadcasts under the Second Authority for Television and Radio Law, 5750-1990.
(b)The Minister of Communications shall determine the arrangements for the allocation and use of the channels and radio frequencies referred to in subsection (a).

Broadcasting announcements in emergencies§

86.

In cases of emergency or for reasons of State security, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation shall broadcast announcements on behalf of the Government, the Israel Police, the National Fire and Rescue Authority, the General Staff of the Israel Defence Forces or the Head of Civil Defence, as the Minister has directed.

Referral to emergency announcements in various languages§

87.
(a)In this section –

"emergency announcement" – an announcement concerning a matter listed in paragraphs (1) to (8) of the definition "emergency announcement" in section 9(d) of the Television Broadcasts (Subtitles and Sign Language) Law, 5765-2005;

"silent channel" – a channel or radio frequency allocated for the broadcasting of emergency announcements only, on a permanent or temporary basis.

(b)If an emergency announcement in the Hebrew language was broadcast on the main broadcasting channel, the emergency announcement shall also be broadcast in the Arabic language on the Arabic-language channel, and immediately thereafter, as soon as possible, the emergency announcement shall be broadcast on the main broadcasting channel in the Arabic, Russian and Amharic languages.
(c)Immediately after the broadcast of an emergency announcement in the Hebrew language, an announcement in Arabic, Russian and Amharic shall be broadcast referring viewers or listeners, as the case may be, to the broadcasts of the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation in those languages, and also to the silent channel, if it is operating at that time.

Galei Tzahal§

88.
(a)In this section –

"Galei Tzahal" – radio broadcasts of the Israel Defence Forces;

"the Commander of Galei Tzahal" – a person appointed by the Minister of Defence as Commander of Galei Tzahal or authorised by him to that effect;

"military programme" – a programme that the Minister of Defence has determined to be a military programme for the purposes of this section, and such a determination may be made in respect of a specific programme or a type of programmes.

(b)The Council shall have, in relation to Galei Tzahal, in all matters pertaining to its programmes that are not military programmes, the same powers as it has in relation to the broadcasts of the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, and it shall fulfil in relation to such programmes the same functions.
(c)The arrangements for supervision over the programmes of Galei Tzahal that are not military programmes shall be determined within the framework of the rules that the Council is empowered to determine under section 90, provided that the Minister shall not approve the rules applicable to Galei Tzahal except in consultation with the Minister of Defence.
(d)The Commander of Galei Tzahal shall be invited to participate, as an advisory opinion holder, in the meetings of the Council, and shall act in accordance with the decisions and directives of the Council in relation to the programmes of Galei Tzahal that are not military programmes.
(e)The Commander of Galei Tzahal may appeal against any decision of the Council relating to the programmes of Galei Tzahal that are not military programmes; the appeal shall be submitted through the Minister of Defence and the joint ruling of the Minister and the Minister of Defence; if the appeal is against a decision to discontinue a regular programme of Galei Tzahal or against a decision to broadcast a one-time programme of Galei Tzahal – the Minister of Defence may stay the execution of the decision until the appeal is determined.

Taxes§

89.

For the purpose of payment of taxes, fees, rates and other compulsory payments due to the State or to a local authority, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation shall have the same status as the State.

Power of the Council to determine rules§

90.
(a)The Council may, with the approval of the Minister, determine rules for the management of the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation and for the supervision of broadcasts, and for the efficient performance of its functions under this Law.
(b)The Council's rules under this Law shall be published in Reshumot (Official Gazette) and on the website of the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation.

Implementation and regulations§

91.

The Minister is responsible for the implementation of this Law and may make Regulations for its implementation.

Need to cite this law in a foreign court?

Eli Shimony Israeli Attorneys-at-Law provides certified Expert Legal Opinions on Israeli law within 24–48 hours, accepted by courts worldwide.

Contact Us →
← 1…345…8 →

Page 4 of 8

Read the entire law on one page — continuous text, no page breaks, plus PDF downloads.