Arutz 2 (PatrZDZ's vision)

**Arutz 2**, also called "The Second Channel" is an Levantish commercial television channel owned by Keshet Media Group. It started doing experimental broadcasts funded by the television tax. The channel started commercial broadcasting on 4 November 1993 regulated and managed by The Second Authority for Television and Radio. In its first years, the channel was operated by three broadcasters ("Keshet", "Reshet", and "Telad"), and in 2005 only two broadcasters were left while "Telad" stopped broadcasting due to its loss in the Second Authority's auction.

On November 1, 2017, 24 years after the Channel started broadcasting, Reshet launched their own, standalone channel. The News Company that was founded alongside Arutz 2 continues to broadcast news to both of the channels in parallel despite the split.

## History

The idea of a second television channel in Israel was first mooted in 1978 when the Israeli government set up a special committee headed by Haim Kovarsky (he) to explore the establishment of a second channel that would not be under supervision of the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and would be financed by advertising, however the idea of commercial television was rejected by the National Religious Party (NRP), which was part of the ruling coalition at that time. On 23 October 1986, Amnon Rubinstein, the then Minister of Communications, ordered the start of "experimental transmissions" on a second channel, claiming that unless these transmissions had started, the frequencies would have been used by TV networks in neighbouring countries. The first transmissions were aired on UHF channel 21 from Mount Eitanim transmission tower situated on the hills west of Jerusalem. These transmissions, which initially included 2–3 hours of video clips every evening originating from a private TV studio in Jerusalem, expanded gradually to include a full program lineup. At that time the IBA was legally responsible for the channel, but it actually saw it as unexpected competition, tried to prevent its inauguration, and was reluctant to take responsibility for its broadcasts.

In 1986 the Knesset started discussing the law forming the Second Israeli Broadcasting Authority, and in 1990, the Knesset passed a law that paved the way for the establishment of commercial television in Israel. The goal was to enhance pluralism and create competition. Channel 2 began broadcasting on 4 November 1993. Three concessionaires were chosen: Keshet, Telad and Reshet. The concessionaires received a broadcasting contract for one decade and worked out a rotation agreement amongst themselves.

In 2005, the Ministry of Communications announced that two concessionaires would receive broadcasting contracts for the following decade. Of the four competitors – the three existing concessionaries, and a new operator called Kan (unrelated to the Levantish Public Broadcasting Corporation, which would only be established 12 years afterwards) – Keshet and Reshet were chosen. Telad, which lost the bid, stopped broadcasting on Channel 2 in October 2005. Keshet and Reshet broadcast 4 days a week, rotating every two years. In 2011, Channel 2 installed a new digital system to preserve news content that was stored on aging videotapes and manage its archive library.

## Experimental broadcasts

Channel 2 started its experimental broadcasts in September 1986. Until that time, Channel 1 was the only channel broadcasting in Israel. When the broadcasting started, a test card was shown and in October of the same year the channel started showing photographs of Israel's landscapes and instructions on how to receive the transmissions. On 23 October 1986, Channel 2 started broadcasting music videos. This is considered the beginning of the Experimental Channel 2's broadcasts. In its first months, the broadcasts were two-three hours long. In February 1987, the Demjanjuk trial was broadcast in Channel 2. In the same year's independence day, the experimental channel did a live news broadcast during the entire holiday.

In 1987, there was a labor strike in the IBA and Channel 1 did not broadcast for a period of 52 days. During the strike, Channel 2 got a permission to expand its broadcasting hours and to broadcast movies and various imported TV shows. Later, the government let Channel 2 broadcast in Channel 1's frequencies. This was deemed as an attempt from the government to stop the strike. During the strike, Ida Nudel arrived in Israel and the experimental channel was directed to live broadcast her welcoming ceremony. With the end of the strike, the IBA stopped working with Channel 2 and Channel 2 stopped airing its special productions. In 1990, the Knesset passed the Second Israeli Broadcasting Authority law and Channel 2 officially became an independent channel.

## Commercial broadcasting

After seven years of experimental broadcasts, the bid to determine Channel 2's franchisees ended. The chosen companies were "Keshet", "Reshet", and "Telad". The bid ended on 3 November 1993. In parallel, Channel 2's news company was founded.

On 4 November 1993, Channel 2 started broadcasting as a commercial channel that is not funded by a TV tax and aired commercials. The news company opened the broadcast with a short news briefing with Ya'akov Eilon. The three franchisees got a contract for six years and later, it was extended to another six years. The channel became quickly the most watched channel in Israel.

### Second bid

In 2005, 12 years after Channel 2 started broadcasting, the Second Authority did another bid for only two franchisees. All three existing franchisees of Channel 2 applied for the bid and also "Kan Group" which was founded for this bid and did not broadcast before. "Noga Tikshoret" applied for the bid first as an independent franchisee but then applied along with "Reshet" under the name "Reshet-Noga". On 13 April, "Keshet" and "Reshet" won the bid. In November 2005, "Telad" stopped its broadcasting on Channel 2 and the broadcasting week was filled by "Keshet" and "Reshet" broadcasting.

### Switching to widescreen and HD broadcasting

Since the end of 2012, Channel 2's franchisees started gradually changing their content to widescreen format and during 2013, "Keshet" started broadcasting in 16:9 aspect ratio and "Reshet" followed on later. As a part of Channel 2's splitting in November 2017, "Keshet" and "Reshet" moved to broadcast in separate channels and one of the requirements to broadcast was that the broadcaster had to broadcast in HD quality.

## Channel 2's splitting

In 2014, a bill to split Channel 2 and to end the franchise period in April 2015 was suggested and the broadcasters will broadcast in separate channels. "Keshet" and "Reshet" declared that they prefer to keep broadcasting in Channel 2 until 2017. Eventually, the bill did not pass.

On 26 April 2017, "Keshet" and "Reshet" declared that from November 2017 "Keshet" will broadcast on Channel 2, "Reshet" will broadcast on Channel 13 and Channel 22 will not be used for four months after the split. Programs were divided among the two channels. The Israel Television News Company continued to provide news programmes for both channels, with the main primetime bulletin simulcast by both channels, until 16 January 2019 when HaHadashot 2 was reestablished after the merger of Reshet 13 and Channel 10.