Minister of Communications Dr. Shlomo Kari presented today (Tuesday) the main points of the Ministry of Communications' work plan.
Among other things, the minister intends to accelerate the deployment of advanced 5G cellular infrastructure, open the broadcasting market to competition while encouraging new players, and close the Second Authority and the Cable and Satellite Council.
""In Israel, there is hyperregulation in the field of communications, the strictest in the world. When we remove regulations, competition will bring diversity and a plurality of opinions into the market," said Kari. "We did not come to restrict, we came to liberate.".
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The minister added that he intends to develop a new rating model to reflect reliable ratings data, to free up radio frequencies from public broadcasting and transfer them to private entities, to impose an obligation of equal original productions on all market players, to solve discrimination on social networks through a law that will protect freedom of expression, and to address the problem of the lack of protection of children and youth online.
Main points of the media reform:
5G: 50 million to accelerate the implementation of innovative technological applications and establish an inter-ministerial team to promote the deployment of 5G infrastructure throughout the country.
Stopping interference in the business model, the composition of subscription packages, and the broadcast schedule. A free and competitive market that will lead to the opening of new content channels.
Eliminating the need for a license to broadcast news.
A dedicated budget to encourage competition and diversity in the field of news and current affairs.
Abolition of the Second Authority and the Cable and Satellite Council. The era of hyperactive regulation is over. Less intervention. More competition and freedom.
Clearing frequencies from the corporation's radio stations in favor of allocating them to commercial national radio stations.
Alleviating cross-cutting costs and the ability to establish communication groups for players with a small market share, while significantly limiting the monopolistic power of the powerful.
Applying the obligation to produce original content to all players, including international players. A balanced and competitive playing field, including technological indifference regarding the means of transmission.
Developing a new rating model, which will be based, among other things, on new technologies and real data from content providers, and will reflect reliable ratings data for the benefit of the public and the advertising industry.
Facebook, Twitter, etc.: Protecting freedom of expression on social networks. The obligation to justify blocks and deletions on social networks in Israel, and giving Israeli courts the authority to consider violations of users' rights on social networks.
Protecting children and youth online.
Reducing restrictions on personal imports of end-user equipment.
"The "cellular reform" is coming to the television market - increasing competition and lowering subscription prices for the consumer.
According to a report by Matti Tochfeld in Israel Hayom, as part of the new reform, the broadcasting corporation will be forced to close four radio stations, of its choosing, and vacate the frequencies. In addition, the corporation will not be allowed to broadcast advertisements on television and radio. The budget for the corporation's news division - radio and television - will be only 30 million shekels per year.
Galei Tzahal will also not be allowed to broadcast advertisements and sponsorships - a step that casts a heavy shadow over Galgalatz.
Netflix and Disney Plus will be required to invest in Israeli original broadcasts.
In addition, the news station I24news will receive permission to broadcast in Hebrew, thus also constituting competition for Channel 14.
It was also decided that the Facebook law would be passed - to deny the downloading of posts on the networks, except for reasons defined by law, and to provide financial compensation for a post or tweet that was removed outside the framework of the law.
