New group interested in bid to save Channel 10

The group comprises managers of the embattled television channel and journalists from outside it.

By ROY BARAK / GLOBES
Channel 10 logo_311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Channel 10 logo_311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
A new solution was emerging Monday to the possible closure of television Channel 10 and Hevrat Hahadshot (Israel News Company). Senior managers of Channel 10, together with journalists from outside the company, have expressed interest in buying the channel from its owners. Sources informed Globes that senior Israeli journalists recently expressed interest in the initiative, and said that if it went ahead, they would participate.
The plan is for the channel to be floated and for the stakes of the existing shareholders to be diluted. Up to now, the attempts to solve the problem of the royalties and franchise fees owed by Channel 10, amounting to NIS 44 million, have centered on political efforts to defer the debts, and searches for a new investor to inject cash.
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The new plan would combine raising money from the public with the transfer of day-to-day control to professional management from the current shareholders and their representatives.
The proposed solution would also enable Hevrat Hahadashot to continue operating; if Channel 10 is merged into another franchisee, its existence would be put at risk. Under the new proposal, those promoting the move hope, pluralism in news broadcasting will be preserved and the channel will have greater journalistic freedom of action.
Those involved in the move, who prefer to remain anonymous for the time being, also hoped that spreading the ownership of the channel among the public will prevent any one person or interest from gaining a substantial stake.
Behind the move lies the Hatzlahah movement and its legal counsel, Adv Elad Man. Man proposed a similar move at Ma'ariv when the newspaper was owned by Zaki Rakib and before it was taken over by Nochi Dankner.