Early years of statehood Upon its establishment in May 1948, Israel had one radio station, run directly by the government, which was a continuation of the
British Mandate's Hebrew radio station. The first governments, headed by
David Ben-Gurion, did not favor the establishment of TV stations. Nevertheless, the Israeli government discussed the idea of using television as an instructional and educational tool in 1952 and 1955. In 1961 the Israeli government asked
UNESCO to offer its opinion, which was in favor of using television for educational purposes. In the early 1960s, television broadcasts from neighboring Egypt, Lebanon, and Cyprus gradually became available to Israelis through TV sets which were placed in public places, like cafés. Since they were mainly in Arabic, these broadcasts were popular among
Israeli Arabs. This raised the government's concern about anti-Israel propaganda that might be included in them. and intended to be received by 32 schools across the country. The Israeli Broadcasting Authority launched regular public transmissions on 2 May 1968, on the occasion of
Israeli Independence Day. In 1970, it attempted moving entirely to UHF broadcasts, in an attempt to reduce its attraction among its neighboring Arab countries, which used VHF.
Colour transmissions Israeli television began operations when American and European stations were switching to full-scale colour transmissions, but Israel's state-controlled stations broadcast only in
black and white. According to Arnon Zuckerman, head of IBA's television department from 1973 to March 1979, Israeli prime minister
Golda Meir described colour television as "artificial" and unnecessary.
Yair Lapid, son of
Tommy Lapid, the IBA director general from April 1979 to March 1984, claimed the IBA had the equipment for filming and broadcasting in colour for nearly a decade before putting it into use, and the introduction of colour transmissions was halted due to political pressure. Newscasts and other regular productions were filmed using black and white cameras. However many special productions ordered from private Israeli studios (in particular
Herzliya Studios) were filmed and taped in colour. Furthermore, Israeli television bought the rights to many American and British TV series and movies (broadcast with Hebrew-Arabic subtitles). The result was a mixture of colour and black and white broadcasts, which encouraged traders to import colour TV sets, especially as TV stations in neighbouring Jordan and Egypt started colour transmissions in 1974. The Israeli government considered the import of colour televisions as a frivolous luxury that would increase social gaps. Therefore, the government ordered IBA and IETV to erase the colour from colour-taped telecasts by erasing the "
burst phase" signal. The "damaged" signal triggered the "colour killer" mechanism, installed in colour TV sets to prevent the appearance of incidental colour spots on the screen when black-and-white films are broadcast or when the reception is disturbed. This method was named
mekhikon ( "eraser"), and soon after its introduction, special TV sets with an
anti-mekhikon ( "anti-eraser") device were offered. This device reinstalled the burst phase signal according to several known standards. The client had to turn a switch until the pictures on the screen appeared in natural colours. According to a report in
Yediot Aharonoth from January 1979 clients had to manipulate the switch every 15 minutes on average in normal conditions, or up to 10 times an hour when special problems occurred, in order to restore natural colours or if the picture suddenly turned black and white. Based on information from owners of electric appliance stores, the report estimated that 90% of those who bought colour TV sets also bought the
anti-mekhikon device, whose price ranged between
IL2,500 and IL4,000 (a TV set itself cost IL40,000–50,000). The Israeli government allowed colour transmissions by the IBA in November 1977 when IBA provided live colour coverage of
the historical visit of the Egyptian president,
Anwar El Sadat, to Israel. This transmission was sent via
satellite to stations around the world. In March 1979 the IBA hosted the annual
Eurovision Song Contest, and once again sent the transmission live in colour to stations around the world. Public pressure on the issue of colour transmissions mounted, and in 1981 IBA and IETV were allowed to film their own regular productions in colour. This process took more than two years and reached the last stretch on 16 February 1983 when the main daily newscast was broadcast in colour for the first time. According to Lapid's book, this first colour newscast was prepared secretly by some "enthusiastic workers" of IBA, in order to avoid industrial actions by the technicians' trade union, who demanded higher salaries for operating colour equipment. Lapid also mentions that the
anti-mekhikon system cost IBA
IL180 million yearly (approximately
₪64 million at 2011 prices). The IBA stopped filming in black and white on 10 May 1983.
Second channel studio In 1978 the Israeli government appointed a special committee to explore the establishment of a second channel that would not be under the IBA supervision and would be financed by advertising, however the idea of commercial television was rejected by some parties in the ruling coalition. On 7 October 1986, Prof.
Amnon Rubinstein, the then Israeli
Minister of Communications ordered the beginning of "experimental transmissions" on a second channel, claiming that unless these transmissions had started, the frequencies would have been used by TV networks in neighbouring countries. First transmissions were aired on UHF channel 21 from
Mount Eitanim transmission tower situated on the hills west of Jerusalem. These transmissions, which initially included 2–3 hours of video clips every evening and broadcast from a private TV studio in Jerusalem, expanded gradually to include a full program lineup. At this stage the IBA was legally responsible for the channel, but in fact it saw it as an unexpected competition, tried to prevent its inauguration, and was reluctant to take responsibility for its broadcasts. In 1986 the Knesset started discussing the law forming the
Second Israeli Broadcasting Authority, which was finally approved in 1990. This new body took responsibility for the second channel from this year onwards. From 1990 to 1993 the Second Broadcasting Authority reviewed bids from commercial companies to establish the regular commercial broadcasts of the second channel, which started on 4 November 1993. The second channel was officially handed to three concessionaires, starting the first commercial broadcasts in Israel, with IETV as the fourth broadcaster which was entitled, by law, for additional hours on this channel as a commercial entity.
Multichannel services Pirated television broadcasts via cables became very popular in the major cities of Israel during the late 80s. These were usually local cable television stations broadcasting illegally from private houses to subscribers, mainly films released on video tapes. These local stations vanished with the introduction of regulated cable television in 1989. By mid-1994, some 720,000 Israeli households were hooked up to cable television. Satellite television was introduced to Israel in 2000. Digital terrestrial television started in August 2009 using the Second Authority's
Idan+ platform. Analog television shut down in 2011. ==Technical standards==