Yes (Israeli Television Provider)

Yes is an Israeli multichannel television provider that began full satellite broadcasting in July 2000 after receiving its license in January 1999. It was Israel’s first multichannel digital satellite provider and entered a market previously served by regional cable companies.[1][7] The company later added internet-based VOD and OTT television, while remaining a licensed broadcaster directly owned by Bezeq since 2015.[1]

Yes was established in 1998 as Digital Broadcasting Satellite (DBS), a venture licensed to provide digital multichannel television by satellite. Its stated aim was to become Israel’s leading digital platform for multichannel broadcasting; early shareholders included Eurocom, Bezeq, Gilat, Lidan-Kardan, and Hapoalim Communications.[3] It received its satellite-broadcasting license on January 20, 1999.[1] The company began full broadcasting in July 2000, following test broadcasts, and competed with regional cable television providers.[1][8]

At launch, Yes offered roughly 70 digital linear channels, alongside near-video-on-demand, interactive, and radio channels. Its early technical infrastructure included a fully digital broadcast center and transmission through the Israeli Amos 1 satellite to rooftop receiving dishes.[1][3] A 2001 account reported that the service then offered about 80 channels.[3]

The channel lineup grew to about 100 linear channels in 2006, 110 in 2010, and 120 in 2016. At the time of the broadcasting regulator’s license-renewal decision, the company listed about 140 linear channels, including seven Yes-branded channels, as well as about 32 high-definition channels; some programming was also available in Ultra HD (4K).[1]

Yes introduced an internet-based video-on-demand service in 2010. Its VOD library contained about 2,000 films at the time of the license-renewal application. The company later introduced recording-capable HD set-top boxes in 2017 and a 4K-capable yesULTRA box in 2018.[1]

The licensed broadcaster is DBS Satellite Services (1998) Ltd., known as Yes; its customer agreement identifies the service provider as Yes Television and Communications Ltd. and lists satellite broadcasting and distribution, interactive services, pay-per-view, recording, and multiroom options among its offerings.[1][9]

In February 2015, Bezeq approved the purchase of Eurocom’s 50.22% stake in Yes, together with owner loans totaling NIS 1.538 billion. The reported share price ranged from NIS 680 million to NIS 1.05 billion, depending on milestones; the immediate cash payment was NIS 680 million, with additional payments conditional on tax synergies and Yes’s performance. Bezeq presented the transaction as a strategic move that would allow it to offer packages including television content.[4] Because it was a related-party transaction, Bezeq’s board used a special committee composed solely of external directors to examine the deal.[4] The regulator later stated that Bezeq had directly owned 100% of Yes since 2015, while Yes continued to operate under structural separation requirements set by Bezeq’s license.[1]

Yes is subject to broadcasting obligations, including investment in local production. The regulator recorded seven financial penalties related to the timing of local-production expenditure during 2015–2019, while also concluding that Yes generally met most of its obligations during the period under review.[1]

Yes traditionally competed primarily with cable provider HOT, but the growth of internet-delivered television brought additional Israeli and international rivals into the multichannel market. The regulator’s review recorded a continuing decline in Yes’s customers and broadcasting revenue beginning in 2016, with a more pronounced revenue impact from 2018 as Cellcom TV and Partner TV grew.[1]

In March 2019, Yes’s board approved a gradual, multiyear shift away from satellite broadcasting toward over-the-top (OTT) internet delivery. The company cited changing consumer habits, the entry of streaming-based competitors, and broader changes in the television-content market.[1][10] Yes launched its yes+ internet television service in October 2019, initially through an Apple TV app developed in collaboration with Apple. Reported features included catch-up viewing, skipping introductions, and automatically continuing to the next episode; plans also included an Android-based streaming device and support for smart televisions.[11]

The transition was expected to take several years and involve replacing equipment for roughly 565,000 customers. In July 2021, 31% of subscribers used Yes services over the internet, either alone or alongside satellite; by the end of the third quarter of 2022, the share had risen to about 53.4%.[1][11] In that quarter, Yes’s internet-based services had more subscribers combined than its satellite service for the first time. The company had 575,000 subscribers overall, including 307,000 using internet-based services.[12]

Bezeq’s 2023 corporate responsibility report said Yes had begun broadcasting over the internet in 2017 and that more than 75% of its customers consumed television services online. It also reported approximately 574,000 multichannel television customers and around 44,000 fiber subscribers. From the second half of 2022, Yes was an authorized internet-access provider and supplied fiber internet services using infrastructure components through the wholesale market.[2]

A January 2025 report said that 89% of Yes’s private customers were then using internet-based television. Yes planned to retain limited satellite broadcasting after 2026 for institutional customers, including security forces, and for some customers without access to wired internet. The report also described the company’s expectation that the broader shift away from satellite would save tens of millions of shekels annually.[13] The regulator’s earlier decision had recorded February 2026 as the company’s estimate for completing the transition, rather than a confirmed outcome.[1]

Yes’s programming combines Israeli original productions with content from other countries. The company describes its offering as spanning a range of interests and age groups, and says its documentary-film library contains more than 700 films. Its yes+ FAQ lists approximately 140 channels across films, series, documentaries, science and nature, children’s programming, and Yes-branded channels; the lineup changes over time.[14][15] The broadcasting regulator also recorded that the company’s investment in acquiring and producing content yielded locally produced dramas and documentaries that received Israeli and international awards.[1]

Yes develops and produces original programming through Yes Studios, which also distributes Israeli content to international audiences. The company names Shtisel, Your Honor, On the Spectrum, and The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem among its productions that it says became international phenomena.[14] In June 2020, it launched Yes English, a free video-on-demand service offering programs with English subtitles. Its reported catalogue included all three seasons of Fauda, both seasons of Shtisel, On the Spectrum, other Yes series, documentaries, and films.[16]

Fauda premiered in 2015 and became a prominent success for the network. HonestReporting described it as “the most successful television show on the Israeli Yes satellite network,” noting that executives had not expected a story following the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to attract audiences.[5] In a 2011 interview reported by The Jerusalem Post, Yes chief executive Ron Eilon said that 70% of the company’s shows launched without a pilot and that more than 20% of its content budget went toward local productions.[17]

Yes’s 2023 corporate responsibility report also described representation in its drama productions: women played leading roles in all of the company’s drama series that year, and women produced 80% and created 80% of them.[2]

Satellite broadcasting disruptions affected Yes subscribers in 2007, prompting complaints and cancellations. Yes’s chief executive said the company knew the source but could not identify it publicly; the cause remained uncertain in the contemporaneous report. The company offered its roughly half-million subscribers 18 free movies in response.[18]

In November 2016, interference disrupted Israeli Channels 2 and 10 broadcasts transmitted through an open satellite link. The disruption was limited to those broadcasts, and Yes subscribers were not affected.[19] A 2019 cybersecurity report separately listed Yes among Israeli organizations affected by a severe security flaw in some VPN servers, but did not provide details specific to Yes.[20]

The 2015 Bezeq acquisition of Yes was covered amid allegations concerning regulatory decisions and media influence. A 2018 report described police suspicions that decisions benefiting Shaul Elovitch, then a controlling shareholder in both Bezeq and Yes, were linked to favorable coverage on the Walla news site. The same report recorded denials by Benjamin Netanyahu and Elovitch’s attorney that the alleged meeting or discussion about the merger had occurred; these were reported allegations and denials, not findings established by the cited account.[6]