Keshet 12 petitions the Supreme Court: "Its goal is to dismantle the channel"
Drama in the media market: Keshet 12 filed a petition today to the Supreme Court against the broadcasting law promoted by Minister of Communications Shlomo Karhi. The petitioner claims the law is discriminatory and intended to weaken critical media outlets.
Another drama in the media market: the company Keshet 12 filed a petition today (Tuesday) to the Supreme Court against the broadcasting law promoted by Minister of Communications Shlomo Karhi. With this, Keshet joins 10 other petitions already filed against the law, including petitions by journalist organizations, civil bodies, News 12, and the broadcasting corporation Kan 11.
In the petition, Keshet describes a flawed, personal, and factually baseless legislative process that it says resembles the pattern of action against free media in Hungary under Viktor Orbán. The petition notes that the move was planned from the outset with the goal of punishing, restraining, and weakening a central player for political reasons, while recalling the statements of Minister Karhi, who called Keshet 12 a "panic channel" that spreads "poison," and declared that the law was intended to "dismantle the left-wing monopoly."
The petition emphasizes that the move is not happening in a vacuum, especially after the entrance door to the News 12 editorial building in Tel Aviv was smashed again last night, for the second time in a few weeks. Keshet claims that the violent attacks on the ground are a tangible expression of the dangerous atmosphere created by the legislation, and calls on the government and the Minister of Communications to cease the attacks and incitement that lead to serious acts.
According to Keshet's claims, the law imposes unprecedented and discriminatory economic sanctions. Among other things, the law forces only Keshet 12 to transfer its linear broadcast and its Catch-Up service (with an additional 90 minutes) for free to competing commercial platforms, including Hot and Yes. This involves the expropriation of the channel's central content asset, which was produced with an investment of hundreds of millions of shekels, and its transfer without compensation to entities competing with it for advertising and news broadcasts.
Furthermore, while the law imposes an obligation to invest in high-quality content, it grants an economic advantage and five-year preparation relief to channels such as Channel 14 and i24, as well as Hot and Yes. Conversely, Keshet and Reshet are obligated from the start at a much higher rate, so Keshet is effectively financing the relief for its competitors.
The petition further claims that the law creates a negative incentive for producing satire and intentionally harms the program "Eretz Nehederet": "The minister decided to harm the profitability of producing these programs... It seems that 'Eretz Nehederet' is the most hated program by the government, being a critical, stinging, and biting satirical program," it states.
Keshet 12 also addresses the broken promise to reduce regulation. Instead of "leveling the playing field," the law creates a "double and discriminatory regulatory regime" that leaves a heavy burden of supervision, license fees, and ethical rules on Keshet, while exempting bodies close to the government from regulation. In addition, the cancellation of the structural separation between broadcasting bodies and news companies is intended, according to the petition, to allow direct pressure and threats against owners of critical channels.
The petition emphasizes that all professional bodies in the country - including the Ministry of Justice, the legal counsel to the Ministry of Communications and the Knesset, the Competition Authority, and the Regulatory Authority - expressed reservations about the arrangements that were changed repeatedly without an economic and factual basis. Keshet 12 is represented in the petition by the law firms Crispin Rubinstein Blacher Kadosh & Co., Goldfarb Gross Seligman & Co., and Keshet's legal counsel, Adv. Dan Fogelman.
