Minister of Communications Gilad Erdan promises "to do everything possible to prevent disruptions in broadcasts of the World Cup, which are financed by the public's television fee." Commenting on the Israel Broadcasting Authority's expenses for sending a team to cover the games, he says on a post on his Facebook page, "I read that they are considering not broadcasting the World Cup games, definitely original conduct, while using the television fee proceeds to fly a large delegation to Brazil, but not to broadcast the games to the public… interesting."
Erdan's post came after the Knesset plenum passed in its first reading the law to close the Broadcasting Authority. "They decided not to cover the Pope's visit, but that is a tragedy that most of us did not feel," he said, adding, "Today, we took an important step toward eliminating the fee; an important and significant step to rehabilitate public broadcasting in Israel. I need you on my side, and to the extent that MKs quickly approve the bill, we can cancel the fee and establish new public broadcasting channels."
On Monday, the Knesset passed the new Broadcasting Authority bill in its first reading by a 33:14 vote.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 27, 2014
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