Hot to Pay 4 Million Shekels in Compensation to All Subscribers in Israel

Customers of the company "Hot" are expected to soon enjoy automatic viewing benefits, following the approval of a settlement agreement in a class action lawsuit by the Tel Aviv District Court, totaling millions of shekels.

The lawsuit, filed in 2022 by a mother of two minors, claimed that the company broadcast content including violence, sex, and drug use during hours prohibited for children's viewing, and even presented content restricted to ages 18+ at times not permitted by law.

According to the agreement, the total value of the compensation to customers will amount to approximately 4 million shekels, as reported today, Wednesday, by YNET. Although "Hot" initially claimed that the responsibility lay with external content providers and that the laws on the subject were outdated, the company has now committed to tightening procedures and enforcing permitted broadcast hours with the providers.

How will the compensation work in practice? All company subscribers in Israel will receive, comprehensively and automatically, a month of free viewing on the "Hop! Yaldut Yisraelit" channel and the "KIDZ" library. Customers who already pay for these services will receive an alternative in the form of free access to the "Zoom Tone" library. The benefit will be activated and deactivated automatically, without the need for any action on the part of the customer, and will be accompanied by a notification on the invoice and on the screen.

Judge Michal Amit-Anisman determined that providing comprehensive compensation is the fairest and most efficient solution, as it is impossible to accurately identify the parents whose children were exposed to the problematic broadcasts. The plaintiffs' lawyers welcomed the move and emphasized the importance of making the television screen a safer and more protected environment for minors in the current era.