Channel 16, the new project led by Ram Landes, one of the founders of Channel 2 News and Channel 10 News, is continuing to build its programming team ahead of launch. The company announced that Zvika Hadar and Maor Zaguri are joining the channel. According to the announcement, both will develop entertainment and original productions, and they will also host programs on the new station.
In recent days, the channel also said Yaakov Eilon will anchor its main news bulletin. The channel’s CEO is Itai Wohlman, formerly the CEO of Channel 14. The studios are being built on the grounds of the Educational Television site.
The official launch period will begin this coming Sunday, 28 June 2026, with the first broadcast of the main news edition presented by Eilon. That will start a 21-day soft-launch phase, leading to the beginning of official trial broadcasts on 19 July 2026. Initially, Channel 16 will air on Cellcom TV, as well as through a dedicated mini-site and smart-TV apps, and it will be available free to the public.
The channel is also promoting a viewer-participation model, with a barcode shown on screen so viewers can send ongoing feedback and influence decisions such as the schedule, graphics, and content style. Previous statements said the founders envision a public offering that would let citizens buy shares, making Channel 16, they say, Israel’s first channel partly owned by the public. Its content strategy is to deliberately reduce the amount of current-affairs coverage and nonstop news during the day in favor of more varied programming, including series, culture, music, and food.
The main backer behind Channel 16 is businessman and real-estate entrepreneur Itzik Haddad, 68, from Ashdod. He owns Y.H.U.D. Construction Company and the Together Builders group, which was founded in 1997, has most of its projects in Ashdod, and currently has one in Netivot. The company says it has handled more than 30 projects and built over 1,500 housing units. Haddad also serves as chairman of the Ashdod and Lachish Contractors Organization and is a member of the presidium of the Builders Association of Israel. In 2017, he was convicted in a plea deal of aiding a breach of trust by a former deputy mayor of Ashdod and was sentenced to six months of community service and a 2 million shekel fine. His representatives declined to comment on that case, saying he will address it and other Channel 16 matters only at a launch press conference.
