Second Authority for Television and Radio Law, 5750-1990
חוק הרשות השניה לטלויזיה ורדיו, התש"ן–1990
Published: 1990-02-13Last amended 2026-07-28✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-09
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Section D: Television News Broadcasts and the News Company
News Broadcasts§
63.
(a)News broadcasts within the framework of television broadcasting pursuant to this Law shall be governed solely by the provisions of this Section.
(b)(to be repealed on 1.1.2027): The Council shall determine the times of news broadcasts and their duration.
(c)The Council may determine that news broadcasts shall be, in addition to Hebrew, also in Arabic and in other languages, all as it shall determine.
(d)The law applicable to a news company that broadcasts the news broadcasts of a holder of a television broadcasting franchise, for the purposes of this Law, shall be the same as that applicable to any other holder of a television broadcasting franchise, except in relation to sections 34, 35, 37, 54, 60, 71d, 71e, 102a1 and 102a2.
The News Companies§
63a.
(a)News broadcasts in the broadcasts of the holders of television broadcasting franchises on Channel 2 shall be broadcast by means of the Channel 2 news company, which shall be established and operate pursuant to this Section, and in accordance with the franchise granted to it by the Council.
(b)
(1)News broadcasts in the broadcasts of a holder of a television broadcasting franchise on the Third Channel shall be broadcast by means of the Third Channel news company, which shall be established and operate pursuant to the provisions of this Section, with such modifications as are necessarily required in relation thereto by the provisions of section 54, as determined by the Minister, and in accordance with the franchise granted to it by the Council.
The Telecommunications (Third Channel News Company) Regulations, 5761-2000 (KT 5761, 428), have been published, prescribing that, owing to the modifications necessarily required by the provisions of section 54 – the majority required for the election of the director of the news company pursuant to section 68(a) shall be sixty-six per cent of the members of the board of directors; and for the removal of the director of the news company from office pursuant to section 69(a)(3) – sixty-six per cent of the members of the board of directors.
(2)For the purpose of conducting news broadcasts in the first year of the period of the first franchises on the Third Channel, the Third Channel news company may purchase news broadcasts produced and broadcast pursuant to any law.
(c)News broadcasts in the broadcasts of a holder of a television broadcasting licence shall be broadcast by means of a news company, which shall be established and operate pursuant to the provisions of this Section, and in accordance with the licence granted to it by the Council; the law applicable to such a news company, for the purposes of this Law, shall be the same as that applicable to any other holder of a television broadcasting licence, except in relation to sections 34, 35a, 37, 37d, 37e, 60, 62e and 62f.
(d)
(1)In the news broadcasts referred to in subsection (c), no use shall be made of trade marks, whether registered or unregistered, relating to the name of the Channel 2 news company or the name of the Third Channel news company, including trade marks incorporating the numbers 2, 22 or 10, which were used by the Channel 2 news company or the Third Channel news company.
(2)The Director may order the prohibition of the use of a trade mark, whether registered or unregistered, having characteristics similar to the trade marks referred to in paragraph (1).
(e)(Repealed).
Purchase of News Broadcasts§
63a1.
So long as television broadcasts are conducted within the framework of two or more television channels, a news company may, with the approval of the Council and on conditions that it shall determine, purchase, in each year, news broadcasts in an amount no less than the amount prescribed in item 4 of the Second Schedule, from an entity approved by the Council whose place of business is in Jerusalem and whose exclusive occupation is the production of news, or whose other occupations or those of an interested party therein do not, in the opinion of the Council, impair its independent and independent functioning in the production of news; for the purposes of a decision pursuant to this section the Council may take into account, inter alia, the assurance of the existence of at least one news company pursuant to this Section.
Restrictions in relation to a Position Holder§
63b.
No person shall serve as a position holder in two or more news companies simultaneously.
Reliability of News Broadcasts§
64.
The news company shall conduct news broadcasts that are accurate, reliable and balanced, and the private positions and opinions of the company's managers, employees and shareholders shall not be reflected therein.
Prohibition of Advertising§
65.
A news company may not broadcast anything that constitutes advertising broadcasts, including incidental advertising, concealed advertising or subliminal advertising.
Shareholders of the News Company§
66.
(a)The shareholders of the Channel 2 news company shall be the Authority and the holders of the television broadcasting franchises on Channel 2, and the shareholders of the news company through which a holder of a television broadcasting licence broadcasts news broadcasts shall be the Authority and the holder of the television broadcasting licence, all as set out below:
(1)the Authority shall hold forty per cent of the shares of the news company that confer voting rights at the general meeting of the company (hereinafter – voting shares);
(2)the holders of television broadcasting franchises or the holder of the television broadcasting licence, as the case may be, shall be allocated sixty per cent of the voting shares as well as all the shares conferring rights to receive profits and to participate in the residual assets of the news company upon its winding up (hereinafter – property shares).
(b)The proportionate share of each franchise holder in the voting shares and in the property shares shall be determined having regard to the number of franchise holders and in accordance with the scope of the broadcasting unit of each, all as the Council shall determine in rules.
(c)A franchise holder who takes the place of a franchise holder whose franchise for the same broadcasting unit was cancelled or has expired is required to purchase the property shares of the previous franchise holder; the method of calculating the consideration and the manner of its payment shall be determined in Regulations.
Board of Directors of a News Company§
67.
(a)The board of directors of a news company shall comprise at least five directors, of whom three-fifths shall be appointed by the holders of television broadcasting franchises in accordance with their proportionate share in the voting shares of the news company or by the holder of the television broadcasting licence, and two-fifths shall be appointed by the Council pursuant to this section, provided that the franchise holders or the licence holder shall not appoint to the board of directors more than two representatives recommended by those who hold means of control both in the franchise holder or the licence holder, as the case may be, and in a corporation that is a newspaper as defined in section 41(b2)(9).
(b)The directors appointed by the Council pursuant to this section (in this section – directors on behalf of the Authority) shall be public representatives who meet at least the eligibility conditions for the office of chairman of the board of directors of a government company pursuant to sections 17, 17a, 18c and 24(c) of the Government Companies Law, 5735-1975, with such modifications as are necessarily required in the circumstances.
(c)The following shall not be appointed as a director on behalf of the Authority:
(1)one who meets any of the disqualifications listed in section 9(a);
(2)one who is a member of the Council;
(3)one who has a personal, economic or other connection, including as an employee, to a broadcasting licensee, to one who is an interested party in a corporation that is a broadcasting licensee and also to one who holds directly any proportion of means of control in such a broadcasting licensee; for this purpose, "broadcasting licensee" – including a holder of a broadcasting licence pursuant to the Communications Law;
(4)one whose other occupations are liable to create a conflict of interests with his role as a director of the news company.
(d)The chairperson of the board of directors of the news company shall be one of the directors on behalf of the Authority, who shall be elected by the board of directors.
(e)A director on behalf of the Authority shall be appointed for a period of three years, and may be reappointed.
(f)A director on behalf of the Authority shall cease to hold office before the end of his term of office upon the occurrence of any of the following:
(1)he resigned by written notice to the Council;
(2)he was convicted of an offence which, in the opinion of the Attorney General, involves moral turpitude;
(3)a disqualification from among the disqualifications for the appointment of a person as a director on behalf of the Authority has arisen in respect of him;
(4)he has been permanently prevented from fulfilling his role, and the Council has removed him from office by written notice.
Appointment of the Director of the News Company and His Duties§
68.
(a)The board of directors of the news company shall appoint the director of the news company on the recommendation of the representatives of the franchise holders or the licence holder in the company; the director of the news company shall be elected by a majority of seventy-five per cent of the members of the board of directors.
(b)The term of office of the director of the news company shall be five years and may be extended for additional terms in the manner prescribed in subsection (a).
(c)The director of the news company, in addition to his other duties, shall serve as the editor-in-chief of the news broadcasts.
Expiry of Office of the Director of the News Company§
69.
(a)The director of the news company shall cease to hold office before the end of his term of office upon any of the following:
(1)he resigned by written notice submitted to the board of directors through its chairperson;
(2)the chairperson of the board of directors determined, after consulting with it, that he has been permanently prevented from fulfilling his role;
(3)the board of directors decided by a majority of seventy-five per cent of its members to remove him from office.
(b)If the director of the news company has ceased to hold office before the end of his term of office, the chairperson of the board of directors shall fulfil his role until the appointment of another director of the news company.
Financing§
70.
(a)The holders of television broadcasting franchises or the holder of the television broadcasting licence shall finance, by way of the purchase of property shares, the acquisition of the installations and equipment of the news company and shall also finance the maintenance, renovation, renewal, modification and replacement thereof and all other expenses of the news company, except for current operations.
(b)The Authority shall finance the current operational expenses of the news company, the components of which shall be determined by the Minister in Regulations.
Constitutional Documents§
71.
The constitutional documents of the news company have no power to derogate from the provisions of this Law.
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Contact Us →Section E: Provisions for the Period of the First Franchise – Merger of Franchise Holders
Merger of Franchise Holders§
71a.
(a)Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 41(b) and (b1), 54 and 56, during the first franchise period the following provisions shall apply:
(1)the three holders of television broadcasting franchises on Channel 2 may incorporate into two corporations that shall be holders of franchises for two broadcasting units that shall replace their three broadcasting units, in a division to be agreed among them, provided that the share of one of them shall not be less than one-third of the total broadcasting time of the franchise holders on the channel; in this subsection, "total broadcasting time" – excluding the broadcasting time on the Sabbath;
(2)any two of the three holders of television broadcasting franchises on Channel 2 may incorporate into a single corporation that shall be a holder of a franchise for one broadcasting unit comprising two-thirds of the total broadcasting time of the franchise holders on the channel;
(3)the two holders of franchises or the winners in the tender, as the case may be, for television broadcasting on the Third Channel may incorporate into a single corporation that shall be a holder of a franchise for their two broadcasting units.
(b)An incorporation as referred to in subsection (a) may be effected by way of the establishment of a new joint corporation or by way of the transfer of the activity pursuant to the franchise to one of the franchise holders or the winners in the tender, as the case may be (hereinafter – the new corporation), all subject to the provisions of section 36(c), (d) and (e), as the case may be.
(c)The Council, with the approval of the Minister and the Committee, shall determine in rules that if the three holders of television broadcasting franchises on Channel 2 incorporate into two new corporations, as referred to in subsection (a)(1), or two of the holders of television broadcasting franchises on Channel 2 incorporate into a single corporation as referred to in subsection (a)(2), those corporations shall be required to produce local productions and purchased local productions at rates higher than the rates specified in sections 59 and 60, all as it shall determine.
(d)If the two franchise holders or winners in the tender, as the case may be, on the Third Channel have incorporated into a single corporation, the disqualifications referred to in section 41(b1) shall apply to the new corporation with the following modifications:
(1)in paragraph (4)(a), instead of "sixteen per cent" read "eight per cent";
(2)in paragraph (4)(b), instead of "twenty per cent" read "ten per cent";
(3)in paragraph (4)(c), instead of "one-fifth" read "one-tenth".
(e)If the three holders of television broadcasting franchises on Channel 2 have incorporated into two new corporations as referred to in subsection (a)(1), or two of the holders of television broadcasting franchises on Channel 2 have incorporated into a single corporation as referred to in subsection (a)(2), the provisions of section 41(b) shall apply to them, with the percentages specified in that section adapted to the change in the scope of the broadcasting units of the new corporation holding the franchise, in the total broadcasting time on the channel.
(f)Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (e), the provisions of section 41(b)(4) shall not apply, during the first franchise period on Channel 2, to holdings of means of control that were permitted and that were actually held, on the eve of the commencement of the Second Authority for Television and Radio Law (Amendment No. 17), 5762-2002, in corporations holding franchises on that channel.
Application and Approval§
71b.
(a)Franchise holders or winners in a tender, as the case may be, who wish to merge as referred to in section 71a shall submit to the Council a written application, to which shall be attached every document or item of information relating to the full agreements among them, as well as full particulars of the holders of means of control in the new corporation, all as the Council shall direct.
(b)The Council shall approve the application within thirty days of the date of its submission pursuant to the Law, if it has found that the conditions referred to in section 71a have been fulfilled and that the new corporation would not have been disqualified from participating in a tender, had one been conducted pursuant to section 42, provided that in relation to an incorporation as referred to in section 71a(a)(2), the Council shall refuse the application if it considers that the incorporation as aforesaid is likely to cause material harm to any of the franchise holders, to competition among them, or to the public interest.
(c)The Council may make its approval subject to conditions, including in relation to the conditions of the franchise to be granted to the new corporation.
(d)The Commissioner, as defined in the Economic Competition Law, shall not object to an application, as referred to in this section, for the merger of any of the franchise holders or the winners in the tender on the Third Channel, or of any of the franchise holders on Channel 2, unless the Commissioner is satisfied that there are special reasons to object thereto, after having also weighed the objectives of this Law; the Commissioner shall give his decisions within thirty days from the day on which he received the applications, and the provisions of section 38 of the Economic Competition Law shall not apply in this regard.
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