Fox Sports in Israel

Fox Sports appeared on Israeli television through the country’s two major multichannel providers. The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council’s end-of-2007 inventory listed “Fox Sport” among HOT’s digital channels and “FOX Sport” among the channels carried by yes.[1] Its end-of-2014 inventories again listed Fox Sport variants for both providers, including HD versions.[5]

An April 2017 yes channel listing placed Fox Sport at channel 63, although the accompanying HOT lineup did not list it.[3] The available sources therefore document the service at several points between the 2001–02 and 2017 periods without establishing its status after that listing.

Fox Sports was documented on Israeli television by the 2001–02 season, when yes aired Italian football league matches on the channel and built an advertising campaign around those broadcasts.[2] A 2003 report said that yes had not intended to carry the Italian league during the 2002–03 season. It also noted that Charlton, which held the Israeli rights, had organized a studio for the earlier broadcasts on the satellite Fox channel.[2]

The same report described the American Fox Sports channel as one of five bidders seeking control of JCS Sport, the operator of Sport 5.[2] By the end of 2007, Fox Sports had become part of the documented channel inventories of both HOT and yes.[1]

On March 2, 2010, FOX SPORTS HD began broadcasting to yes satellite subscribers in what Globes described as the channel’s first launch outside the United States.[4] Access was initially limited to customers who had purchased Sport 5 HD, and the international feed was scheduled to broadcast around the clock, seven days a week. Launch programming included NFL and college football, MLB baseball, MLS, English-league matches involving Bolton and Everton, tennis, golf, basketball, hockey, and figure skating.[4]

Later in 2010, Fox Sports was included in HOT’s basic package and yes’s sports package, while HD broadcasts remained exclusive to yes.[6] Ahead of the NFL season, the channel planned to show two games each evening and to expand its football schedule with NFL Game Day, NFL Replay, America’s Game, and programming from NFL Network.[6]

The expansion also included more than 1,000 hours of college football and basketball, five live MLB broadcasts rather than four, live MLS matches, and three live NHL games per week. The programs were to air on both the standard and HD feeds.[6]

NFL coverage remained prominent in the channel’s published schedule. In February 2011, Fox’s Israeli representative said that the channel would continue to show important NFL games. The described schedule included a one-hour edition of FOX NFL Sunday before two live games each Sunday, a shortened version of a leading weekly game on Wednesdays, and a weekly highlights program on Fridays.[7]

For the 2011 MLB season, the channel increased its baseball commitment from three or four games a week to five.[8] The selected broadcasts were to include games played Monday through Thursday and Fox’s Saturday Game of the Week. Additional coverage included the All-Star Game, up to ten American and National League playoff games, the American League Championship Series, and the World Series.[8]

At the time, Globes listed Fox Sports at channel 60 on HOT and channel 62 on yes, with the HD format at satellite channel 562.[8]

In June 2011, HOT signed an agreement to continue carrying Fox’s international sports channel and launched its own HD version.[9] HOT channels director Ron Hermelin said: “We are happy about expanding the cooperation with Fox, within which we reached understandings regarding continuation of broadcasts on the existing channel and the launch of the HD channel in addition.”[9] Programming cited under the renewed agreement included MLB, the NFL and Super Bowl, NHL, MLS, Copa América, and Professional Golfers’ Association tournaments.[9]

In 2014, Fox Sports was included in yes’s proposed discounted sports package alongside Sport 5, Eurosport, and Ego, as well as several general-interest channels. The package was presented as a sports-oriented option that excluded premium sports channels such as 5+.[10] The Council’s 2014 annual report also recorded Fox Sport variants in both providers’ inventories: HOT carried “Fox Sport,” “FOX SPORTS,” and “FOX SPORTS HD,” while yes carried “FOX SPORT HD.”[5]

An April 2017 listing placed Fox Sport at channel 63 on yes, between Trace Sport at 62 and Extreme at 64. The same article’s HOT lineup did not list Fox Sport.[3]

The Israeli service combined access to American and international sports programming with an early HD distribution milestone. Globes described the March 2010 yes launch as the channel’s first outside the United States, and HOT introduced its own HD version in June 2011.[4][9]

The documented scale of the service included more than 1,000 hours of college football and basketball in the 2010 expansion and five MLB games per week for the 2011 season.[6][8] Its listings on both HOT and yes also show that Fox Sports formed part of Israel’s broader multichannel sports market during this period.[1][5]

The 2016 regulatory record contains an unresolved ambiguity concerning the Fox Sports services on HOT. On December 22, 2016, Decision 5-18/2016(a) approved the removal of “FOX SPORTS HD” from channel 561, while Decision 5-18/2016(b) approved changing “FOX SPORTS” so that it would be transmitted simultaneously in SD and HD, with subscribers receiving the version supported by their receiver.[11]

The Council’s report does not explain the relationship between the two same-day decisions or clarify whether the distinct channel labels referred to separate services or to different versions of the same feed.[11]