Television in Israel
Television in Israel refers to television broadcasting services in the State of Israel, inaugurated on March 24, 1966. Initially, there was one state-owned channel. In 1986, a second state-regulated channel was launched. This channel became a state-regulated commercial channel in 1993. An additional commercial channel was introduced in 2002, followed by the introduction of two commercial niche channels: an Israeli Russian-speaking channel (in 2002) and a channel of Israeli popular music (in 2003). Colour transmissions were introduced gradually around 1980. Satellite-based multichannel service has been available since 2000.
Almost 75% of the population is subscribed to pay TV systems which are provided either by a cable service called "HOT", or by a satellite service called "yes".
History
Television in Israel was introduced in 1966 with the first transmission of the Israeli Educational Television, using black-and-white television technology, intended to be received by 32 schools, in attempt to use television as an instructional tool. The Israeli Broadcasting Authority launched regular public transmissions on 2 May 1968, on the occasion of Israeli Independence Day. Until 1986 Israel had only one television channel shared by IETV and IBA. Experimental transmissions on a second channel started in October 1986 and expanded gradually. Cable television was introduced in 1990 and satellite DTH in 2001. By mid-1994, some 720,000 Israeli households were hooked up to cable television.