Israeli Cable Companies to Remove BBC News Channel.
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2003 1:36 pm
The latest from Yahoo! News:
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Israel's three cable television companies said Sunday they would drop 24-hour news channel BBC World from their systems at the end of March due to failure to reach an agreement on a new contract.
A spokeswoman for the cable companies, now in merger talks, said they had weighed getting rid of either BBC or Sky News at the end of their contracts. They decided on BBC because it refused to lower its asking price.
"In the last year we renewed almost all of our contracts," the spokeswoman, Anat Zisman, said. "Almost every supplier, and there are about 40, cooperated and reduced their prices. They understood (Israel's economic troubles) but BBC ignored it.
"That was something we had to take into our decision," she said. "BBC didn't renegotiate."
In a statement, BBC said it was disappointed its news channel would no longer be carried on Israeli cable systems but noted that the growing digital satellite TV provider YES would still keep the news station.
"We are deeply disappointed that the cable operators felt it necessary to remove BBC World, particularly as its loss will have a significant impact on viewers' choice and access at a crucial time in world events," BBC said.
"But as a commercial channel, we were unable to accept the cable operators' proposal which wasn't commercially viable."
Zisman denied the move had anything to do with BBC World's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that some Israelis have criticized as biased against Israel, which BBC has denied.
The three companies moved to cancel CNN International last year for what they called financial reasons before a last minute deal was struck. CNN's parent had accused the companies of trying to silence its coverage of the conflict, but that charge was denied.
Zisman said that the financially strapped cable companies of Golden Channels, Tevel and Matav could not carry four international news networks, especially since Israel will soon be launching its own all-news station and the cable companies needed to find that channel a slot.
"We don't have unlimited space for all the channels," Zisman said. "We will be launching other channels and need spectrum."
In addition to BBC and Sky, cable systems also carry the international version of Cable News Network (CNN) and the U.S. Fox News Channel. CNBC Europe, which often switches to MSNBC News, has recently been added to the cable lineup.
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Israel's three cable television companies said Sunday they would drop 24-hour news channel BBC World from their systems at the end of March due to failure to reach an agreement on a new contract.
A spokeswoman for the cable companies, now in merger talks, said they had weighed getting rid of either BBC or Sky News at the end of their contracts. They decided on BBC because it refused to lower its asking price.
"In the last year we renewed almost all of our contracts," the spokeswoman, Anat Zisman, said. "Almost every supplier, and there are about 40, cooperated and reduced their prices. They understood (Israel's economic troubles) but BBC ignored it.
"That was something we had to take into our decision," she said. "BBC didn't renegotiate."
In a statement, BBC said it was disappointed its news channel would no longer be carried on Israeli cable systems but noted that the growing digital satellite TV provider YES would still keep the news station.
"We are deeply disappointed that the cable operators felt it necessary to remove BBC World, particularly as its loss will have a significant impact on viewers' choice and access at a crucial time in world events," BBC said.
"But as a commercial channel, we were unable to accept the cable operators' proposal which wasn't commercially viable."
Zisman denied the move had anything to do with BBC World's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that some Israelis have criticized as biased against Israel, which BBC has denied.
The three companies moved to cancel CNN International last year for what they called financial reasons before a last minute deal was struck. CNN's parent had accused the companies of trying to silence its coverage of the conflict, but that charge was denied.
Zisman said that the financially strapped cable companies of Golden Channels, Tevel and Matav could not carry four international news networks, especially since Israel will soon be launching its own all-news station and the cable companies needed to find that channel a slot.
"We don't have unlimited space for all the channels," Zisman said. "We will be launching other channels and need spectrum."
In addition to BBC and Sky, cable systems also carry the international version of Cable News Network (CNN) and the U.S. Fox News Channel. CNBC Europe, which often switches to MSNBC News, has recently been added to the cable lineup.
I see nothing wrong with having the options...if they are liberal then you can get their perspective. Fox News allows you to get the conservative viewpoint. Watch both and then decide yourself. Oh wait...that sounds like freedom of speech and press.
