Channel 9 (Israel)

Channel 9 was created as a specialist outlet for Russian-speaking viewers in Israel, in a television market that had expanded from a single domestic channel to dozens of services in multiple languages.[10] Its model combined Russian-language news and current affairs with original and acquired entertainment.[1][6] Hebrew subtitles on many programs also broadened access beyond Russian speakers.[11]

The channel later pursued international distribution and programming intended to connect Russian-speaking audiences with Israeli society, history, and public life.[5][3] Launch-era and anniversary audience figures are historical snapshots rather than current measurements.[1][6] A prominent 2011 survey was commissioned by the channel itself and likewise describes a specific period.[12]

Channel 9 began broadcasting on November 12, 2002, under the name Israel Plus.[1] It was established as a dedicated Russian-language Israeli channel, distributed by cable and satellite and supported by advertising; a 2004 account said its license required at least half of its content to be in Russian.[2] Its launch came amid a broader expansion in Israeli television. One account describes a shift from decades with a single channel to a wider selection, with about 40 channels in more than a dozen languages by 1994, including commercial and cable services.[10]

In its early presentation, Israel Plus described itself as an Israeli channel in Russian rather than a Russian channel in Israel. Its target audience was framed as Russian-speaking viewers living in Israel, and a company representative described that intended audience in 2004 as 1.2 million consumers, a contemporary estimate rather than a current population figure.[2] A dissertation later described Channel 9 as the only Russian-language television channel based entirely in Israel at that time, and noted that Hebrew subtitles on many programs also made them accessible to Hebrew speakers.[11]

The channel’s launch-era performance fell short of some expectations. A 2003 report said a survey commissioned by its licensee, Vash Telekanal, had anticipated that most immigrants from the former Soviet Union would watch the channel, supporting a projected first-year advertising revenue of $7 million. The report said average viewership during its first two months was below 3% of Israeli Russian-speaking adult television viewers, while weekly advertising time fell from 4.5 hours in the second week to 2 hours and 4 minutes in the thirteenth.[1]

News and current affairs nevertheless became prominent early offerings. In 2003, the channel bought news from Channel 2’s news company and presented it with Russian-speaking commentators. Its 21:00 program, “News Plus with Commentary,” reportedly reached 13% viewership in its usual audience and 25% among Russian-speaking viewers on March 18, 2003, when the Iraq War began; the reported figure later settled at 19%.[1] A dissertation also reported that the channel doubled its ratings “within a few years,” though the passage it cited supplied no underlying figures.[11]

The business faced financial pressures. In March 2003, Israel Plus began selling its own advertising airtime after ending an arrangement with Mifal Communications. A 2004 profile described financial difficulty and reported that the channel cut its annual budget from $15 million to $12 million, shortened studio hours, outsourced some production, and shifted some staff to freelance arrangements.[2]

In January 2007, the channel began broadcasting in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States under the Israel Plus brand. It was carried free under an initial agreement with a Russian distributor and transmitted its full schedule around the clock. Plans to reach Germany and projections of more than one million subscribers in Russia and the CIS by the end of 2007 were reported as intentions and estimates, not confirmed final results. Distribution agreements with partners in the United States and Australia had also been signed about a year earlier.[5] On the channel’s tenth anniversary, a report listed distribution in Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, the United States, Canada, and Australia.[6]

News and current affairs have been central to Channel 9’s identity. A 2015 description listed news editions and bulletins, weekend programs, and current-affairs programs with commentary.[13] The channel also employed correspondents covering regional affairs. Ksenia Svetlova spent fifteen years as a senior analyst and Arab-affairs reporter for Channel 9 before her election to the Knesset. Her reporting included the 2003 Iraq War from aboard a U.S. assault ship in the Persian Gulf, the Arab Spring from Cairo’s Tahrir Square, and interviews in Lebanon, Syria, Libya, Gaza, and the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria.[14]

Svetlova’s first overseas assignment, in March 2003, was coverage of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. After arriving in Moscow, she learned that her destination had changed from Qatar to Bahrain; she improvised and managed to board a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Arabian Gulf.[15] She broadcast in Russian for most assignments. When asked to send recordings in Hebrew to Channel 2, she had to take additional logistical precautions to protect her cover and security, while her Arabic helped her build trust with interviewees.[15]

The channel has also produced material aimed at connecting Russian-speaking viewers with Israeli history and society. In 2008, it planned to air “Temol Shilshom,” a 13-episode documentary series about Israeli history from 1948 to 1957. The program included Hebrew subtitles and explored how events in Russia affected life in Israel during the country’s early years. Its production, undertaken with the Avi Chai Foundation and assistance from the Jerusalem Cinematheque and Spielberg Archive, followed five years of research and cost about NIS 2 million. General manager Leonid Blakhman initiated and directed the series; presenters included Natasha Mozgovaya, Gera Sandler, and Alexander Averbukh.[3]

A tenth-anniversary account identified the original production “Under the Skies of Verona,” a contemporary retelling of Romeo and Juliet, as the Russian-language audience’s most-watched program in the channel’s history, reporting an average viewership of 26% among immigrants. The same article reported that a Spain–Portugal match during the preceding summer’s European football tournament drew 18.7% viewership on Channel 9 and that the tournament’s matches averaged 12.5%; the account did not provide survey methodology for those figures.[6]

A survey commissioned by Channel 9 and conducted in July 2011 found that 61% of Russian-speaking respondents in Israel watched the channel, 29% named it as the channel they watched most, and 16% named it as their second choice. Reported viewing varied by age and Hebrew proficiency: around 37% of respondents aged 18–34 and about 90% of those aged 65 and over watched it, with higher viewing among respondents with weaker Hebrew.[12] Because the survey was commissioned by the channel and describes a particular period, its figures should not be read as current audience measurements.

The survey also reported that 79% of respondents frequently watched news programs, compared with 49% who frequently watched films and 25% who frequently watched quiz shows; 55% said they never watched reality programs. It identified Channel 9 as the leading channel among the surveyed Russian-speaking public, followed by ORT and Channel 2.[12] More broadly, accounts of Israeli television describe specialist services as serving minority audiences that the main channels had largely overlooked, including Russian-speaking viewers.[16]

The channel has carried events of communal and national significance. In 2016, it held its annual People of the Year awards at the Jerusalem International Convention Center, recognizing Russian immigrants or Israeli-born members of the Russian community in fields including security, technology, communications, culture, education, sport, and Zionist activity; Channel 9 broadcast the event live.[17] In 2017, it carried Yad Vashem’s Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day opening ceremony live in Russian.[4]

Ownership and investment in Channel 9 changed over time. A dissertation described Levi Leviev as “considered to hold ownership” of the channel, a qualified account of ownership at the time rather than evidence about present control.[11] In February 2013, Leviev and Africa-Israel Investments announced an agreement to bring in an investor group led by Alexander Levin to Vash Telekanal, the company holding the channel’s license. Africa-Israel and Leviev each held 46% of Vash Telekanal, and the group was to receive a 48% stake in return for its investment, subject to approvals.[18]

In July 2013, Africa-Israel and Leviev reported selling their 48% stake in the franchisee to Levin for $6.5 million, including a $540,000 owners’ loan. The report said Leviev had invested NIS 150 million in the station over the years and that it had lost money during most of its operation. After Levin’s takeover, the channel changed management and set goals that included attracting younger viewers, reaching Russian speakers outside Israel, and strengthening its news desk.[7]

A 2010 account of the channel’s license review said dedicated channels’ license conditions were reviewed every ten years, with Channel 9’s review due in November 2011. At the time, its license required eight hours a day of first-run content, and the regulator was considering a proposal to reduce that requirement to six hours. The regulator was also considering how to recognize previous excess investment in drama and documentaries, while stating that the channel’s local-production investment obligation would not be reduced.[19]

Channel 9 has also been included in changes to Idan Plus, Israel’s digital terrestrial television system. In August 2024, the Knesset passed legislation expanding the system, and a report said the legislation would add Channel 9 among four specialized small channels, defined there as channels with yearly income below NIS 80 million. Idan Plus provided free broadcasts to consumers and was operated by the Second Authority for Television and Radio. The same legislation required the Second Authority to shut down Idan Plus by January 31, 2025.[8]

The policy timeline developed further in 2025: a report said a new amendment extended commercial and regional channels’ exemption from Idan Plus transmission fees through June of that year, with an option for a further extension, and named Channel 9 among the beneficiaries.[9] The reports describe different legislative developments at different dates; they do not establish the platform’s status beyond the periods they cover.

Channel 9 has operated as a media outlet for Russian-speaking Israelis while also maintaining links to audiences outside Israel. Its Russian-language news and analysis, and the use of Hebrew subtitles on many programs, reflected an effort to make some content accessible across language communities.[1][11] A 2006 poll presented by the channel reportedly found that 78% of Russian immigrants in Israel would appreciate working conditions like those experienced in the former Soviet Union’s state-regulated economy. This is the dissertation’s account of a poll presented by the channel, not an independently verified result.[11]

The channel’s website has at times faced disruption separate from the television service. In March 2022, Russia blocked Channel 9’s website alongside other foreign news sites amid its efforts to control information about the war in Ukraine; the report distinguished the blocked website from the television channel itself.[19] In April 2022, a distributed-denial-of-service attack temporarily took the website offline, alongside KAN News’s website.[20]

Channel 9 has also appeared in disputes concerning audience ratings. Its tenth-anniversary account said the channel challenged the reliability of ratings published by the Israeli ratings committee, arguing that they harmed its revenue. The committee rejected the channel’s claims, and litigation was still under way when the report appeared.[6]

Debate over Idan Plus legislation concerned both access to television services and the future of public broadcasting. In 2025, supporters of the changes were described as seeking to preserve access to more channels, while critics argued that the legislation could weaken public broadcasting.[9]

Channel 9’s editorial direction and management were also publicly disputed. In 2015, former news editor Yana Dan criticized changes under new management, alleging that foreign news had come to dominate and that some staff lacked familiarity with Israeli realities. The channel disputed her account of her departure, saying she had returned from a temporary acting editor-in-chief role to her previous position and chose to leave. The same report said the channel had moved to new studios in Modi’in built at a cost of more than NIS 50 million.[13]

The channel’s objections to ratings data were contested by the Israeli ratings committee, which rejected its claims; a court case was reported as ongoing at the time.[6]