The Israel News group intends to appeal to the High Court of Justice over the rejection of its petition to overturn its loss to Hadashot 24 in the designated news channel tender. The decision was made by the Israel News board of directors in a telephone consultations. The group plans to submit the petition by the end of the week.
The group's heads notified Minister of Communications Reuven Rivlin and Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting chairwoman Dorit Inbar that they intend to appeal the ruling by the Tel Aviv District Court, and requested that Rivlin and Inbar refrain from issuing a license to Hadashot 24.
Israel News plans to submit an order to delay implementation to prevent the issue of a license to Hadashot 24 until the end of legal proceedings.
Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting director general Yoram Mokady said in response that the council intends to award the license to the winning group by the end of August. He said, "We have respected the recommendations of the Tel Aviv District Court, that no license be awarded until the end of proceedings. The moment a ruling was issued, we could award the license, and we will do so, unless an order to delay implementation is issued.”
Hadashot 24 must transfer the NIS 100,000 license fee and present a NIS 10 million bank guarantee within 30 days.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 7 August 2001