Moreover, its relatively high salaries have persuaded many of the public channel's experienced journalists to join the opposition. The cable companies have channels devoted to movies, sports, sitcoms, pop music, programs for children, culture and nature. There are also cable channels devoted to programs in Russian, Arabic, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Turkish and Hungarian, enabling immigrants to keep up with what is happening in their native countries. Before its introduction, the Israeli authorities tried to regulate the media during times of crisis and war. But now such efforts are bound to be futile, for even if the local channels don't report about incoming rockets or outgoing troops, CNN and the BBC will bring the news to local viewers.
Arab governments face the same problem.
People in neighboring states have access to the international networks and to Israel telecasts as well. Whether or not neighboring Arabs are influenced by what they see is hard to tell, but major efforts are made by the Israel Broadcasting Authority to give them an opportunity to pick up Israeli productions. Thanks to Israel's own Amos Satellite, programs that originate in Jerusalem can be seen in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. As things look now, the shows might be available elsewhere in the world sometime next year. More specifically, an Israeli-Jewish TV network might appear in North America, followed by another such network in Europe.