Israeli Knesset Passes Communications Law Reform Led by Minister Shlomo Karhi

The Israeli Knesset has approved the Communications Law reform in its second and third readings, with 53 members supporting and 48 opposing the bill. The legislation, spearheaded by Minister Shlomo Karhi, aims to increase public freedom by dismantling monopolies in the media sector and promoting competition and transparency in viewership data. Karhi stated that the reform removes propaganda constraints and enables citizens to choose their viewing options freely.

The law establishes a new independent statutory body called the Authority for Broadcast Communications, which will consolidate and replace existing regulatory agencies. The authority’s annual budget is set at 25 million shekels, deducted from the public broadcasting corporation’s budget. A Broadcast Communications Regulatory Council with nine members, ensuring gender and committee representation, will set the authority’s policies. Until further legislation, the council will operate without direct enforcement powers, with the Second Authority maintaining control over legacy license holders and radio.

The law mandates registration for Israeli content providers meeting specific criteria, such as annual revenues over 40 million shekels, more than 100,000 paying subscribers, or funding exceeding 100 million shekels from controlling shareholders in the past three years. The council can designate providers as "commercially significant," requiring them to offer broadcasting rights to all distributors without discrimination.

Regarding original productions, a new framework requires registered content providers to invest at least 6.5% of their annual income in local productions, with 10% of that amount dedicated to documentary programming. This obligation will be phased in over five years, adjusting current quotas for entities under the Second Authority and the Communications Law.

The law also maintains the operation of the Idan+ digital broadcasting system, funded at 25 million shekels annually from the public broadcaster’s budget. Only existing legacy channels will be subject to mandatory carriage rules. Sports broadcasts deemed of public importance must air on Idan+ channels. The law prohibits broadcasters holding sports rights from forcing customers to buy expensive channel packages and requires them to sell content equitably to competitors. Clear criteria were set for defining "publicly important sports events," which will not incur additional fees.